Magnetic stimulation devices and methods of therapy

ABSTRACT

Devices and systems are disclosed for the non-invasive treatment of medical conditions through delivery of energy to target tissue, comprising a source of electrical power, a magnetically permeable toroidal core, and a coil that is wound around the core. The coil and core are embedded in a continuous electrically conducting medium, which is adapted to have a shape that conforms to the contour of an arbitrarily oriented target body surface of a patient. The conducting medium is applied to that surface by any of several disclosed methods, and the source of power supplies a pulse of electric charge to the coil, such that the coil induces an electric current and/or an electric field within the patient, thereby stimulating tissue and/or one or more nerve fibers within the patient. The invention shapes an elongated electric field of effect that can be oriented parallel to a long nerve. In one embodiment, the device comprises two toroidal cores that lie adjacent to one another.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 13/938,931 filed 10 Jul. 2013, which is a Divisional of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/964,050 filed 9 Dec. 2010, which claims thebenefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/415,469 filed 19Nov. 2010; and is a Continuation in Part of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 12/859,568 filed 19 Aug. 2010, which is a Continuation in Part ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/408,131 filed 20 Mar. 2009, now U.S.Pat. No. 8,812,112 issued 19 Aug. 2014, which is a Continuation in Partof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/591,340, filed 1 Nov. 2006, nowU.S. Pat. No 7,747,324 issued 29 Jun. 2010, which claims the benefit ofU.S. Provisional Application Ser. Nos. 60/814,313 filed 16 Jun. 2006,60/786,564 filed 28 Mar. 2006, 60/772,361 filed 10 Feb. 2006, 60/736,002filed 10 Nov. 2005, and 60/736,001 filed 10 Nov. 2005; each of which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The field of the present invention relates to the delivery of energyimpulses (and/or fields) to bodily tissues for therapeutic purposes. Itrelates more specifically to toroidal magnetic stimulation devices, aswell as to non-invasive methods for treating medical conditions usingenergy that is delivered by such devices. The medical conditionsinclude, but are not limited to, post-operative ileus, neurodegenerativedisorders (such as Alzheimer's disease), post-operative cognitivedysfunction (POCD), post-operative delirium (POD), dementia, rheumatoidarthritis, acute and chronic depression, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease,multiple sclerosis (MS), bronchoconstriction associated with asthma,anaphylaxis or COPD, sepsis or septic shock, hypovolemia or hypovolemicshock, orthostatic hypotension, hypertension, urinary incontinenceand/or overactive bladder, and sphincter of Oddi dysfunction.

Treatments for various infirmities sometime require the destruction ofotherwise healthy tissue in order to produce a beneficial effect.Malfunctioning tissue is identified and then lesioned or otherwisecompromised in order to produce a beneficial outcome, rather thanattempting to repair the tissue to its normal functionality. A varietyof techniques and mechanisms have been designed to produce focusedlesions directly in target nerve tissue, but collateral damage isinevitable.

Other treatments for malfunctioning tissue can be medicinal in nature,but in many cases the patients become dependent upon artificiallysynthesized chemicals. Examples of this are anti-asthma drugs such asalbuterol, proton pump inhibitors such as omeprazole (PRILOSEC®),spastic bladder relievers such as DITROPAN®, and cholesterol reducingdrugs such as LIPITOR® and ZOCOR®. In many cases, these medicinalapproaches have side effects that are either unknown or quitesignificant. For example, at least one popular diet pill of the late1990's was subsequently found to cause heart attacks and strokes.Unfortunately, the beneficial outcomes of surgery and medicines areoften realized at the cost of function of other tissues, or risks ofside effects.

The use of electrical stimulation for treatment of medical conditionshas been well known in the art for nearly two thousand years. It hasbeen recognized that electrical stimulation of the brain and/or theperipheral nervous system and/or direct stimulation of themalfunctioning tissue holds significant promise for the treatment ofmany ailments, because such stimulation is generally a wholly reversibleand non-destructive treatment.

Nerve stimulation is thought to be accomplished directly or indirectlyby depolarizing a nerve membrane, causing the discharge of an actionpotential; or by hyperpolarization of a nerve membrane, preventing thedischarge of an action potential. Such stimulation may occur afterelectrical energy, or also other forms of energy, are transmitted to thevicinity of a nerve [F. RATTAY. The basic mechanism for the electricalstimulation of the nervous system. Neuroscience Vol. 89, No. 2, pp.335-346, 1999; Thomas HEIMBURG and Andrew D. Jackson. On solitonpropagation in biomembranes and nerves. PNAS vol. 102 (no. 28, Jul. 12,2005): 9790-9795]. Nerve stimulation may be measured directly as anincrease, decrease, or modulation of the activity of nerve fibers, or itmay be inferred from the physiological effects that follow thetransmission of energy to the nerve fibers.

Electrical stimulation of the brain with implanted electrodes has beenapproved for use in the treatment of various conditions, including painand movement disorders such as essential tremor and Parkinson's disease.The principle underlying these approaches involves disruption andmodulation of hyperactive neuronal circuit transmission at specificsites in the brain. Unlike potentially dangerous lesioning procedures inwhich aberrant portions of the brain are physically destroyed,electrical stimulation is achieved by implanting electrodes at thesesites. The electrodes are used first to sense aberrant electricalsignals and then to send electrical pulses to locally disruptpathological neuronal transmission, driving it back into the normalrange of activity. These electrical stimulation procedures, whileinvasive, are generally conducted with the patient conscious and aparticipant in the surgery.

Brain stimulation, and deep brain stimulation in particular, is notwithout some drawbacks. The procedure requires penetrating the skull,and inserting an electrode into brain matter using a catheter-shapedlead, or the like. While monitoring the patient's condition (such astremor activity, etc.), the position of the electrode is adjusted toachieve significant therapeutic potential. Next, adjustments are made tothe electrical stimulus signals, such as frequency, periodicity,voltage, current, etc., again to achieve therapeutic results. Theelectrode is then permanently implanted, and wires are directed from theelectrode to the site of a surgically implanted pacemaker. The pacemakerprovides the electrical stimulus signals to the electrode to maintainthe therapeutic effect. While the therapeutic results of deep brainstimulation are promising, there are significant complications thatarise from the implantation procedure, including stroke induced bydamage to surrounding tissues and the neuro-vasculature.

One of the most successful applications of modern understanding of theelectrophysiological relationship between muscle and nerves is thecardiac pacemaker. Although origins of the cardiac pacemaker extend backinto the 1800's, it was not until 1950 that the first practical, albeitexternal and bulky, pacemaker was developed. The first truly functional,wearable pacemaker appeared in 1957, and in 1960, the first fullyimplantable pacemaker was developed.

Around this time, it was also found that electrical leads could beconnected to the heart through veins, which eliminated the need to openthe chest cavity and attach the lead to the heart wall. In 1975 theintroduction of the lithium-iodide battery prolonged the battery life ofa pacemaker from a few months to more than a decade. The modernpacemaker can treat a variety of different signaling pathologies in thecardiac muscle, and can serve as a defibrillator as well (see U.S. Pat.No. 6,738,667 to DENO, et al., the disclosure of which is incorporatedherein by reference).

Another application of electrical stimulation of nerves has been thetreatment of radiating pain in the lower extremities by stimulating thesacral nerve roots at the bottom of the spinal cord (see U.S. Pat. No.6,871,099 to WHITEHURST, et al., the disclosure of which is incorporatedherein by reference).

The present disclosure involves devices and medical procedures thatstimulate nerves by transmitting energy to nerves and tissuenon-invasively. A medical procedure is defined as being non-invasivewhen no break in the skin (or other surface of the body, such as a woundbed) is created through use of the method, and when there is no contactwith an internal body cavity beyond a body orifice (e.g., beyond themouth or beyond the external auditory meatus of the ear). Suchnon-invasive procedures are distinguished from invasive procedures(including minimally invasive procedures) in that invasive procedures doinvolve inserting a substance or device into or through the skin or intoan internal body cavity beyond a body orifice.

Potential advantages of such non-invasive medical methods and devicesrelative to comparable invasive procedures are as follows. The patientmay be more psychologically prepared to experience a procedure that isnon-invasive and may therefore be more cooperative, resulting in abetter outcome. Non-invasive procedures may avoid damage of biologicaltissues, such as that due to bleeding, infection, skin or internal organinjury, blood vessel injury, and vein or lung blood clotting.Non-invasive procedures are sometimes painless or only minimally painfuland may be performed without the need for even local anesthesia. Lesstraining may be required for use of non-invasive procedures by medicalprofessionals. In view of the reduced risk ordinarily associated withnon-invasive procedures, some such procedures may be suitable for use bythe patient or family members at home or by first-responders at home orat a workplace, and the cost of non-invasive procedures may be reducedrelative to comparable invasive procedures.

For example, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) isnon-invasive because it involves attaching electrodes to the surface ofthe skin (or using a form-fitting conductive garment) without breakingthe skin. In contrast, percutaneous electrical stimulation of a nerve isminimally invasive because it involves the introduction of an electrodeunder the skin, via needle-puncture of the skin. Both TENS andpercutaneous electrical stimulation can be to some extent unpleasant orpainful, in the experience of patients that undergo such procedures. Inthe case of TENS, as the depth of penetration of the stimulus under theskin is increased, any pain will generally begin or increase.

The form of non-invasive electrical stimulation with which the presentapplication is primarily concerned is magnetic stimulation. It involvesthe induction, by a time-varying magnetic field, of electrical fieldsand current within tissue, in accordance with Faraday's law ofinduction. Magnetic stimulation is non-invasive because the magneticfield is produced by passing a time-varying current through a coilpositioned outside the body, inducing at a distance an electric fieldand electric current within electrically-conducting bodily tissue.Because the induced electric field and induced current depend not onlyupon current being passed through wire of the coil, but also upon thepermeability of core material around which the coil may be wound, theterm coil as used herein refers not only to the current-carrying wire,but also to the core material, unless otherwise indicated.

Large, pulsed magnetic fields (PMF) can induce significant electricfields in conducting media, including human tissue. Particular waveformsand amplitudes can stimulate action potentials in nerves, both in vitroand in vivo. Due to the noninvasive nature of the stimulation, PMFdevices have found utility in several clinical applications, boththerapeutically, e.g., for treating depression via transcranial magneticstimulation (TMS), and diagnostically, for peripheral nerve stimulation.It is an objective of the present invention to use magnetic stimulationto produce significantly less pain or discomfort, as compared with thatexperienced by the patient undergoing a treatment with TENS, for a givendepth of stimulus penetration. Or conversely, for a given amount of painor discomfort on the part of the patient (e.g., the threshold at whichsuch discomfort or pain begins), an objective of the present inventionis to achieve a greater depth of penetration of the stimulus under theskin.

The principle of operation of magnetic stimulation, along with adescription of commercially available equipment and a list of medicalapplications of magnetic stimulation, is reviewed in: Chris HOVEY andReza Jalinous, The Guide to Magnetic Stimulation, The Magstim CompanyLtd, Spring Gardens, Whitland, Carmarthenshire, SA34 0HR, UnitedKingdom, 2006. The types of the magnetic stimulator coils that aredescribed there include circular, parabolic, figure-of-eight(butterfly), and custom designs. Additional types of the magneticstimulator coils are described in patent U.S. Pat. No. 6,179,770,entitled Coil assemblies for magnetic stimulators, to MOULD; as well asin Kent DAVEY. Magnetic Stimulation Coil and Circuit Design. IEEETransactions on Biomedical Engineering, Vol. 47 (No. 11, November 2000):1493-1499 and in HSU KH, Nagarajan S S, Durand D M. Analysis ofefficiency of magnetic stimulation. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2003November; 50 (11):1276-85.

The circuits that are used to send pulses or other waveforms throughmagnetic stimulator coils are also described by HOVEY and Jalinous inThe Guide to Magnetic Stimulation that was cited above. Custom magneticstimulator circuits for control, impulse generator and power supply havealso been described [Eric BASHAM, Zhi Yang, Natalia Tchemodanov, andWentai Liu. Magnetic Stimulation of Neural Tissue: Techniques and SystemDesign. pp 293-352, In: Implantable Neural Prostheses 1, Devices andApplications, D. Zhou and E. Greenbaum, eds., New York: Springer (2009);U.S. Pat. No. 7,744,523, entitled Drive circuit for magneticstimulation, to EPSTEIN; U.S. Pat. No. 5,718,662, entitled Apparatus forthe magnetic stimulation of cells or tissue, to JANILOUS; U.S. Pat. No.5,766,124, entitled Magnetic stimulator for neuro-muscular tissue, toPOLSON].

As described in the above-cited publications, the circuits for magneticstimulators are generally complex and expensive. They use a high currentimpulse generator that may produce discharge currents of 5,000 amps ormore, which is passed through the stimulator coil, and which therebyproduces a magnetic pulse. Typically, a transformer charges a capacitorin the impulse generator, which also contains circuit elements thatlimit the effect of undesirable electrical transients. Charging of thecapacitor is under the control of a control unit, which acceptsinformation such as the capacitor voltage, power and other parametersset by the user, as well as from various safety interlocks within theequipment that ensure proper operation, and the capacitor is thendischarged through the coil via an electronic switch (e.g., a controlledrectifier) when the user wishes to apply the stimulus. Greaterflexibility is obtained by adding to the impulse generator a bank ofcapacitors that can be discharged at different times. Thus, higherimpulse rates may be achieved by discharging capacitors in the banksequentially, such that recharging of capacitors is performed whileother capacitors in the bank are being discharged. Furthermore, bydischarging some capacitors while the discharge of other capacitors isin progress, by discharging the capacitors through resistors havingvariable resistance, and by controlling the polarity of the discharge,the control unit may synthesize pulse shapes that approximate anarbitrary function.

Another practical disadvantage of magnetic stimulator coils is that theyoverheat when used over an extended period of time, because large coilcurrents are required to reach threshold electric fields in thestimulated tissue. At high repetition rates, currents can heat the coilsto unacceptable levels in seconds to minutes, depending on the powerlevels and pulse durations and rates. Accordingly, coil-coolingequipment is used, which adds complexity to the magnetic stimulatorcoils. Two approaches to overcome heating are to cool the coils withflowing water or air or to increase the magnetic fields using ferritecores (thus allowing smaller currents). For some applications whererelatively long treatment times at high stimulation frequencies may berequired, e.g. treating asthma by stimulating the vagus nerve, neitherof these two approaches may be adequate. Water-cooled coils overheat ina few minutes. Ferrite core coils heat more slowly due to the lowercurrents and heat capacity of the ferrite core, but they also coolslowly and do not allow for water-cooling because the ferrite coreoccupies the volume where the cooling water would flow. One solution tothis problem is to use a core that contains ferrofluids [U.S. Pat. No.7,396,326 and published applications US20080114199, US20080177128, andUS20080224808, all entitled Ferrofluid cooling and acoustical noisereduction in magnetic stimulators, respectively to GHIRON et al., RIEHLet al., RIEHL et al. and GHIRON et al.]. However, even the use offerrofluids may be inadequate when long treatment times at highstimulation frequencies may be required.

Another problem that is sometimes encountered during magneticstimulation is the unpleasantness or pain that is experienced by thepatient in the vicinity of the stimulated tissue. Little is known aboutthe mechanism that produces the pain, although it is generallyrecognized that magnetic stimulation produces less pain than itselectrode-based counterpart. Most investigations that address thisquestion examine pain associated with transcranial stimulation.

ANDERSON et al found that when magnetic stimulation is repeated over thecourse of multiple sessions, the patients adapt to the pain and exhibitprogressively less discomfort [Berry S. ANDERSON, Katie Kavanagh,Jeffrey J. Borckardt, Ziad H. Nahas, Samet Kose, Sarah H. Lisanby,William M. McDonald, David Avery, Harold A. Sackeim, and Mark S. George.Decreasing Procedural Pain Over Time of Left Prefrontal rTMSforDepression: Initial Results from the Open-Label Phase of a MultisiteTrial (OPT-TMS). Brain Stimul. 2009 Apr. 1; 2(2): 88-92]. Other thanwaiting for the patient to adapt, strategies to reduce the pain include:use of anesthetics placed on or injected into the skin near thestimulation and placement of foam pads on the skin at the site ofstimulation [Jeffrey J. BORCKARDT, Arthur R. Smith, Kelby Hutcheson,Kevin Johnson, Ziad Nahas, Berry Anderson, M. Bret Schneider, Scott T.Reeves, and Mark S. George. Reducing Pain and Unpleasantness DuringRepetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. Journal of ECT 2006;22:259-264], use of nerve blockades [V. HAKKINEN, H. Eskola, A.Yli-Hankala, T. Nurmikko and S. Kolehmainen. Which structures aresensitive to painful transcranial stimulation? Electromyogr. clin.Neurophysiol. 1995, 35:377-383], the use of very short stimulationpulses [V. SUIHKO. Modelling the response of scalp sensory receptors totranscranial electrical stimulation. Med. Biol. Eng. Comput., 2002, 40,395-401], and providing patients with the amount of information thatsuits their personalities [Anthony DELITTO, Michael J Strube, Arthur DShulman, Scott D Minor. A Study of Discomfort with ElectricalStimulation. Phys. Ther. 1992; 72:410-424]. U.S. Pat. No. 7,614,996,entitled Reducing discomfort caused by electrical stimulation, to RIEHLdiscloses the application of a secondary stimulus to counteract whatwould otherwise be an uncomfortable primary stimulus. However, thesemethods of reducing pain or discomfort on the part of the stimulatedpatient are not always successful or practical.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention discloses devices and methods for the non-invasivetreatment of medical conditions, utilizing an energy source thattransmits energy non-invasively to bodily tissue. In particular, thedevice can transmit energy to, or in close proximity to, one or moreselected nerves to temporarily stimulate, block and/or modulateelectrophysiological signals in the selected nerves.

In one aspect of the invention, an apparatus for applying energytranscutaneously to a target region within a patient comprises a sourceof energy for generating a magnetic field that is located essentiallyentirely exterior to an outer skin surface of the patient and aconduction medium through which an electrical current induced by themagnetic field penetrates the outer skin surface of the patient. Thesource of energy and the conduction medium are configured to shape theelectrical field that is induced by the magnetic field, such that energyfrom the induced electric field and/or induced current is sufficient tomodulate a nerve at the target region. The source of energy ispreferably a source of electrical energy coupled to a coil housed withinan enclosure that is configured to contain the magnetic field therein.

In one embodiment, the source of energy comprises a source of electricalenergy coupled to first and second coils configured to generate firstand second time-varying magnetic fields; each coil being housed withinan enclosure configured to substantially confine the magnetic fieldtherein. The first and second coils are preferably toroidal such thatthe first coil is configured to orient the first magnetic field in afirst direction around the first toroid and the second coil isconfigured to orient the second magnetic field in a second directionaround the second solenoid, and wherein the first and second directionsare opposite. The conduction medium is preferably positioned inelectrical contact

to a portion of an outside surface of the enclosure to at leastpartially restrict the direction of the electric field. In an exemplaryembodiment, the conduction medium comprises an electrically conductivefluid, such as a solution of electrolytes or a conductive gel, housedwithin the outer enclosure and at least

In another aspect of the invention, a method is provided for selectivelyapplying energy to a target region within a patient. The method includesgenerating a time-varying magnetic field that is located essentiallyentirely outside of the patient and shaping an electric field induced bythe magnetic field. An electric current from the electric field isconducted through an outer skin surface of the patient to the targetregion to modulate a nerve at the target region. The target region ispreferably at least approximately 1-2 cm below the outer skin surfaceand preferably about 2-5 cm below the outer skin surface. The electricfield is constrained from modulating one or more nerves in a secondregion between the outer skin surface and the target region.

In one embodiment, the generating step comprises generating thetime-varying magnetic field within a first enclosed coil and generatinga second time-varying magnetic field within a second enclosed coilpositioned near or adjacent to the first enclosed coil. In analternative embodiment, the shaping step comprises positioning aconducting medium around a portion of the enclosed coil such that thedirection of the electrical field is constrained within the conductingmedium. In yet another embodiment, the shaping step comprisespositioning an electrical insulator around a portion of the enclosedcoil such that the component of the induced electric field normal to thesurface of the insulator is zero.

In another aspect of the present invention, a device comprises a sourceof electrical power, a magnetically permeable toroidal core, and a coilthat is wound around the core. The device also comprises a continuouselectrically conducting medium in which the coil and core are embedded,wherein the conducting medium has a shape that conforms to the contourof an arbitrarily oriented target body surface of a patient when themedium is applied to the target body surface. The source of powersupplies a pulse of electric charge to the coil, such that the coilinduces an electric current and/or an electric field within the patient,thereby stimulating tissue and/or one or more nerve fibers within thepatient.

Because coils of the device produce time-varying magnetic fields whentime-varying currents are passed through the coils, and because thetime-varying magnetic fields induce an electric current and/or anelectric field within the patient, the device is known as a magneticstimulator. Because the magnetically permeable cores of the device andtheir corresponding coils are in the shape of a toroid, the device isknown as a toroidal magnetic stimulator. In one aspect of the invention,a toroidal core comprises a high-permeability material such asSupermendur, wherein current passing through the coil produces amagnetic field within the core of about 0.1 to 2 Tesla. Current passingthrough a coil may be about 0.5 to 20 amperes, typically 2 amperes, withvoltages across each coil of 10 to100 volts. The current is passedthrough the coils in bursts of pulses. The burst repeats at 1 Hz to 5000Hz, preferably at 15-50 Hz. The pulses have duration of 20 to 1000microseconds, preferably 200 microseconds and there may be 1 to 20pulses per burst.

The disclosed invention shapes an elongated electric field of effectthat can be oriented parallel to a long nerve. In a preferredembodiment, the device comprises two toroidal cores that lieside-by-side one another, around which coils are wound. In oneembodiment, coils are wound with the same handedness around the cores,and current is passed in opposite directions through the coils. Inanother embodiment, coils are wound with the opposite handedness aroundthe cores, and current is passed in the same direction through thecoils. In other embodiments of the invention, the device comprises morethan two toroids, and the shapes of the toroids may be configured tohave non-planar or non-circular geometries.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the electrically conductingmedium is contained within a chamber having apertures on its surfacethat are adapted to dispense the conducting medium through the aperturesto the target surface of the patient. In another embodiment, interfacematerial is interposed between the conducting medium and the targetsurface of a patient, such that the conducting medium leaks through theinterface to make electrical contact with the skin of the patient. Forexample the interface material may be electrically conducting materialthat is hydrophilic, an electrically conducting hydrogel, or a materialsuch as MYLAR® having a sub-micron thickness and a high dielectricconstant, for example, a dielectric constant of about 3. In anotherembodiment of the invention, the conducting medium is contained within aconducting deformable elastomeric balloon.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the magnetic stimulatorpreferably operates to induce an electrical signal within the tissue,where the induced electrical signal has a frequency between about 1 Hzto 3000 Hz and a pulse duration of between about 10-1000 microseconds.By way of example, at least one induced electrical signal may be of afrequency between about 15 Hz to 35 Hz. By way of example, at least oneinduced electrical signal may have a pulsed on-time of between about 50to 1000 microseconds, such as between about 100 to 300 microseconds. Theinduced electrical signal may have any desired waveform, which may beone or more of: a full or partial sinusoid, a square wave, a rectangularwave, and triangle wave.

In one aspect of the invention, the disclosed device is configured toinduce a peak pulse voltage sufficient to produce an electric field inthe vicinity of a nerve to cause the nerve to depolarize and reach athreshold for action potential propagation. By way of example, thethreshold electric field for stimulation of nerve terminals may be about8 V/m at 1000 Hz. For example, the device may induce an electric fieldwithin the patient of about 10 to 600 V/m and an electrical field with agradient of greater than 2 V/m/mm.

In embodiments of methods that use the disclosed devices, a magneticstimulator coil is positioned non-invasively on or above a targetanatomical location, such as on or near a patient's neck, ankle,abdomen, or scalp, in the vicinity of nerves or tissue that control aphysiological reflex or response. The electric field and/oreddy-currents induced as energy impulses by the coil of the magneticstimulator create a field of effect that permeates the target nervefibers or tissue and cause the stimulating, blocking, and/or modulationof signals to an end organ that is controlled by the stimulated nervesor tissue.

In one aspect of the present invention, a method of treating a medicalcondition comprises stimulating selected nerve fibers or tissue that areresponsible for producing an intended beneficial physiological effect.Teachings of the present invention demonstrate how the disclosed devicesmay be positioned and used against body surfaces that have arbitraryorientation, such as horizontal and vertical, with respect to the longaxis of the component of the device that contains the coil(s). Thoseteachings also provide methods for treatment of medical conditions thatinclude, but are not limited to, post-operative ileus, neurodegenerativedisorders (such as Alzheimer's disease), post-operative cognitivedysfunction (POCD), post-operative delirium (POD), dementia, rheumatoidarthritis, acute and chronic depression, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease,multiple sclerosis (MS), bronchoconstriction associated with asthma,anaphylaxis or COPD, sepsis or septic shock, hypovolemia or hypovolemicshock, orthostatic hypotension, hypertension, urinary incontinenceand/or overactive bladder, and sphincter of Oddi dysfunction. However,it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods may beapplied to many other medical conditions, and that their application isnot limited to the examples that are given. In other aspects of theinvention, the device is used for impedance measurement and imaging, andfor repositioning of the coil, monitoring of structural conductivitychanges in a patient, and for detecting movement of the coil.

To achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the disclosed magneticstimulation device uses an efficient method to produce electric fieldsin tissue noninvasively, namely, to use a toroidal winding around a highmagnetic permeability material core, embedded in a conducting medium[Rafael CARBUNARU and Dominique M. Durand. Toroidal coil models fortranscutaneous magnetic stimulation of nerves. IEEE Transactions onBiomedical Engineering. 48 (No. 4, April 2001): 434-441]. The conductingmedium must have direct contact with skin for current to flow from thecoil into the tissue. In essence, the disclosed device produces atranscutaneous current, similar to a transcutaneous electrical nervestimulation (TENS) device, but with greater depth of penetration andvirtually no unpleasant peripheral nerve stimulation. In addition, togenerate equivalent electric fields than other PMF devices, toroidalstimulators require only about 0.001-0.1 of the current and producevirtually no heating. It is understood that the magnetic field of atoroidal magnetic stimulator remains essentially within the toroid, andthat when referring to this device as a magnetic stimulator, it is infact the electric fields and/or currents that are induced outside thestimulator that produce an effect in the patient, not the magneticfield.

To the applicant's knowledge, no significant development oftoroidal-coil magnetic stimulators has taken place beyond what wasreported in the above-mentioned CARBUNARU and Durand publication and thedissertation upon which it was based [Rafael Carbunaru FAIERSTEIN, CoilDesigns for Localized and Efficient Magnetic Stimulation of the NervousSystem. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Biomedical Engineering, CaseWestern Reserve, May, 1999. (UMI Microform Number: 9940153, UMI Company,Ann Arbor Mich.)]. Toroidal coils or partial-toroids were mentioned inthe following patents or patent applications, but they did not developthe use of a conducting medium in contact with skin: US20080027513,entitled Systems And Methods For Using A Butterfly Coil To CommunicateWith Or Transfer Power To An Implantable Medical Device, to CARBUNARU;U.S. Pat. No. 7,361,136, entitled Method and apparatus for generating atherapeutic magnetic field, to PARKER; U.S. Pat. No. 6,527,695, entitledMagnetic stimulation coil and circuit design, to DAVEY et al.; U.S. Pat.No. 6,155,966, entitled Apparatus and method for toning tissue with afocused, coherent electromagnetic field, to PARKER; U.S. Pat. No.4,915,110, entitled Therapeutic electrostatic device, to KITOV;US20070032827, entitled Methods and apparatus for producing therapeuticand diagnostic stimulation, to KATIMS; US20100222629, entitled Methodand apparatus for magnetic induction therapy, to BURNETT et al. Thelatter application to BURNETT et al. only notes that “in the papertitled ‘Contactless Nerve Stimulation and Signal Detection by InductiveTransducer’ presented at the 1969 Symposium on Application of Magnetismin Bioengineering, Maass et al. disclosed that a nerve threading thelumen of a toroid could be stimulated by a magnetic field.”

The lack of development is apparently due to the difficulty of embeddingthe coil in a practical conducting medium and having that medium besafely in direct contact with human skin. The only reportedtoroidal-coil magnetic stimulation device used to stimulate human nerveswas described in the above-cited dissertation by Rafael CarbunaruFAIERSTEIN, and it embedded the coil in agar. Agar degrades in time andis not ideal to use against skin, presenting difficulties with cleaningit from a patient and within a device. Furthermore, as disclosed there,the toroid needs to be surrounded by conducting medium above, below andaround it, making for a relatively bulky device that is difficult toapply to target tissue having small cross sectional area. Furthermore,the device that FAIERSTEIN discloses cannot be applied to the surface ofthe skin at an arbitrary orientation.

It is therefore a further objective of the present invention to producea toroidal-coil magnetic stimulation device having a conducting mediumthat is convenient and practical to use. In particular, the device maybe applied to body surfaces having an arbitrary orientation with respectto the long-axis of the component containing the coil. Additionalobjectives of the disclosed devices are that they be compact andportable, and that they may be adapted for use in nerve and tissuestimulation applications that treat diverse medical conditions, such aspost-operative ileus, dysfunction associated with TNF-alpha inAlzheimer's disease, postoperative cognitive dysfunction, rheumatoidarthritis, bronchoconstriction, urinary incontinence and/or overactivebladder, and sphincter of Oddi dysfunction.

The novel systems, devices and methods for treating medical conditionsusing the disclosed magnetic stimulator are more completely described inthe following detailed description of the invention, with reference tothe drawings provided herewith, and in claims appended hereto. Otheraspects, features, advantages, etc. will become apparent to one skilledin the art when the description of the invention herein is taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For the purposes of illustrating the various aspects of the invention,there are shown in the drawings forms that are presently preferred, itbeing understood, however, that the invention is not limited by or tothe precise data, methodologies, arrangements and instrumentalitiesshown, but rather only by the claims.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an exemplary nerve or tissue modulatingdevice according to the present invention, which supplies controlledpulses of electrical current to a magnetic stimulator coil that iscontinuously in contact with a volume filled with electricallyconducting material.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary electrical voltage/current profile forelectrical impulses that are applied to a portion or portions of anerve, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 3A-3D illustrate a dual-toroid magnetic stimulator coil accordingto an embodiment of the present invention, which is shown to be situatedwithin a housing that contains electrically conducting material.

FIGS. 4A-4F illustrate different embodiments of cores according to thepresent invention, around which magnetic stimulator coil wires may bewound.

FIG. 5 illustrates the housing and cap of the dual-toroid magneticstimulator coils of FIGS. 3A-3D, attached via cable to a box containingthe device's impulse generator, control unit, and power source.

FIG. 6 illustrates the approximate position of the housing of themagnetic stimulator coil according to one embodiment of the presentinvention, when the coil is used to stimulate the vagus nerve in theneck of a patient.

FIG. 7 illustrates the housing of the magnetic stimulator coil accordingto one embodiment of the present invention, as the coil is positioned tostimulate the vagus nerve in a patient's neck via electricallyconducting gel (or some other conducting material), which is applied tothe surface of the neck in the vicinity of the identified anatomicalstructures.

FIG. 8 illustrates a method to treat urinary incontinence and/oroveractive bladder, wherein a stimulator coil according to the presentinvention is positioned at a location above the ankle in order tostimulate the tibial nerve.

FIG. 9 illustrates a method to treat Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction,wherein the stimulator coil according to the present inventionstimulates a patient at a location above the liver and adjacent to therib cage.

FIG. 10 illustrates a method according to the present invention, whereinthe disclosed coil is scanned in a raster pattern across a targetsurface of a patient using a mechanical scanner, in order to acquire animage of the electrical impedance of the coil, including the impedanceof underlying electrically conducting bodily tissue.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the present invention, energy is transmitted non-invasively to apatient. A time-varying magnetic field originating outside of a patientis generated, such that the magnetic field induces an electromagneticfield and/or eddy currents within tissue of the patient. The inventionis particularly useful for inducing applied electrical impulses thatinteract with the signals of one or more nerves, or muscles, to achievea therapeutic result. In particular, the present disclosure describesdevices and methods to treat post-operative ileus, neurodegenerativedisorders (such as Alzheimer's disease), post-operative cognitivedysfunction (POCD), post-operative delirium (POD), dementia, rheumatoidarthritis, acute and chronic depression, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease,multiple sclerosis (MS), bronchoconstriction associated with asthma,anaphylaxis or COPD, sepsis or septic shock, hypovolemia or hypovolemicshock, orthostatic hypotension, hypertension, urinary incontinenceand/or overactive bladder, and sphincter of Oddi dysfunction orloosening thick mucus in bronchial passages in for example patientssuffering from cystic fibrosis.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a nerve stimulating/modulating device300 for delivering impulses of energy to nerves for the treatment ofmedical conditions. As shown, device 300 may include an impulsegenerator 310; a power source 320 coupled to the impulse generator 310;a control unit 330 in communication with the impulse generator 310 andcoupled to the power source 320; and a magnetic stimulator coil 340coupled via wires to impulse generator coil 310. The stimulator coil 340is preferably toroidal in shape, due to its winding around a toroid ofcore material.

Although the magnetic stimulator coil 340 is shown in FIG. 1 to be asingle coil, in practice the coil may also comprise two or more distinctcoils, each of which is connected in series or in parallel to theimpulse generator 310. Thus, the coil 340 shown in FIG. 1 represents allthe magnetic stimulator coils of the device collectively. In thepreferred embodiment that is disclosed below, coil 340 actually containstwo coils that may be connected either in series or in parallel to theimpulse generator 310.

The item labeled in FIG. 1 as 350 is a volume, surrounding the coil 340,that is filled with electrically conducting medium. As shown, the mediumnot only encloses the magnetic stimulator coil, but is also deformablesuch that it is form-fitting when applied to the surface of the body.Thus, the sinuousness or curvature shown at the outer surface of theelectrically conducting medium 350 corresponds also to sinuousness orcurvature on the surface of the body, against which the conductingmedium 350 is applied, so as to make the medium and body surfacecontiguous. As described below in connection with a preferredembodiment, the volume 350 is electrically connected to the patient at atarget skin surface in order to significantly reduce the current passedthrough the coil 340 that is needed to accomplish stimulation of thepatient's nerve or tissue. As also described below in connection with apreferred embodiment, the conducting medium in which the coil 340 isembedded need not completely surround the toroid.

The control unit 330 controls the impulse generator 310 to generate asignal for each of the device's magnetic stimulation coils. The signalsare selected to be suitable for amelioration of a particular medicalcondition, when the signals are applied non-invasively to a target nerveor tissue via the magnetic stimulator coil 340. It is noted that nervestimulating/modulating device 300 may be referred to by its function asa pulse generator. Patent application publications US2005/0075701 andUS2005/0075702, both to SHAFER, both of which are incorporated herein byreference, relating to stimulation of neurons of the sympathetic nervoussystem to attenuate an immune response, contain descriptions of pulsegenerators that may be applicable to the present invention, when adaptedfor use with a magnetic stimulator coil. By way of example, a pulsegenerator 300 is also commercially available, such as Agilent 33522AFunction/Arbitrary Waveform Generator, Agilent Technologies, Inc., 5301Stevens Creek Blvd Santa Clara Calif. 95051.

The control unit 330 may also comprise a general purpose computer,comprising one or more CPUs, computer memories for the storage ofexecutable computer programs (including the system's operating system)and the storage and retrieval of data, disk storage devices,communication devices (such as serial and USB ports) for acceptingexternal signals from the system's keyboard and computer mouse as wellas any externally supplied physiological signals, analog-to-digitalconverters for digitizing externally supplied analog signals,communication devices for the transmission and receipt of data to andfrom external devices such as printers and modems that comprise part ofthe system, hardware for generating the display of information onmonitors that comprise part of the system, and busses to interconnectthe above-mentioned components. Thus, the user may operate the system bytyping instructions for the control unit 330 at a device such as akeyboard and view the results on a device such as the system's computermonitor, or direct the results to a printer, modem, and/or storage disk.Control of the system may be based upon feedback measured fromexternally supplied physiological or environmental signals.

Parameters for the nerve or tissue stimulation include power level,frequency and train duration (or pulse number). The stimulationcharacteristics of each pulse, such as depth of penetration, strengthand accuracy, depend on the rise time, peak electrical energytransferred to the coil and the spatial distribution of the electricfield. The rise time and peak coil energy are governed by the electricalcharacteristics of the magnetic stimulator and stimulating coil, whereasthe spatial distribution of the induced electric field depends on thecoil geometry and the anatomy of the region of induced current flow. Inone embodiment of the invention, pulse parameters are set in such as wayas to account for the detailed anatomy surrounding the nerve that isbeing stimulated [Bartosz SAWICKI, Robert Szmurto, Przemystaw Ptonecki,Jacek Starzynski, Stanistaw Wincenciak, Andrzej Rysz. MathematicalModelling of Vagus Nerve Stimulation. pp. 92-97 in: Krawczyk, A.Electromagnetic Field, Health and Environment: Proceedings of EHE'07.Amsterdam, IOS Press, 2008]. A single pulse may be monophasic (nocurrent reversal within the coil), biphasic or polyphasic. For rapidrate stimulators, biphasic systems may be used wherein energy isrecovered from each pulse in order to help energize the next.Embodiments of the invention include those that are fixed frequency,where each pulse in a train has the same inter-stimulus interval, andthose that have modulated frequency, where the intervals between eachpulse in a train can be varied.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary electrical voltage/current profile for astimulating, blocking and/or modulating impulse applied to a portion orportions of selected nerves in

accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. For thepreferred embodiment, the voltage and current refer to those that arenon-invasively induced within the patient by the magnetic stimulator. Asshown, a suitable electrical voltage/current profile 400 for theblocking and/or modulating impulse 410 to the portion or portions of anerve may be achieved using pulse generator 310. In a preferredembodiment, the pulse generator 310 may be implemented using a powersource 320 and a control unit 330 having, for instance, a processor, aclock, a memory, etc., to produce a pulse train 420 to the stimulatorcoils(s) 340 that deliver the stimulating, blocking and/or modulatingimpulse 410 to the nerve. Nerve stimulating/modulating device 300 may beexternally powered and/or recharged may have its own power source 320.

The parameters of the modulation signal 400 are preferably programmable,such as the frequency, amplitude, duty cycle, pulse width, pulse shape,etc. An external communication device may modify the pulse generatorprogramming to improve treatment.

In addition, or as an alternative to the devices to implement themodulation unit for producing the electrical voltage/current profile ofthe stimulating, blocking and/or modulating impulse to the magneticstimulator coil, the device disclosed in patent publication No.US2005/0216062 (the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein byreference) may be employed. U.S. Patent Publication No.: 2005/0216062discloses a multifunctional electrical stimulation (ES) system adaptedto yield output signals for effecting electromagnetic or other forms ofelectrical stimulation for a broad spectrum of different biological andbiomedical applications, including magnetic stimulators, which produce ahigh intensity magnetic field pulse in order to non-invasively stimulatenerves. The system includes an ES signal stage having a selector coupledto a plurality of different signal generators, each producing a signalhaving a distinct shape, such as a sine wave, a square or a saw-toothwave, or simple or complex pulse, the parameters of which are adjustablein regard to amplitude, duration, repetition rate and other variables.Examples of the signals that may be generated by such a system aredescribed in a publication by LIBOFF [A. R. LIBOFF. Signal shapes inelectromagnetic therapies: a primer. pp. 17-37 in: BioelectromagneticMedicine (Paul J. Rosch and Marko S. Markov, eds.). New York: MarcelDekker (2004)]. The signal from the selected generator in the ES stageis fed to at least one output stage where it is processed to produce ahigh or low voltage or current output of a desired polarity whereby theoutput stage is capable of yielding an electrical stimulation signalappropriate for its intended application. Also included in the system isa measuring stage which measures and displays the electrical stimulationsignal operating on the substance being treated as well as the outputsof various sensors which sense conditions prevailing in this substancewhereby the user of the system can manually adjust it or have itautomatically adjusted by feedback to provide an electrical stimulationsignal of whatever type he wishes and the user can then observe theeffect of this signal on a substance being treated.

The stimulating, blocking and/or modulating impulse signal 410preferably has a frequency, an amplitude, a duty cycle, a pulse width, apulse shape, etc. selected to influence the therapeutic result, namely,stimulating, blocking and/or modulating some or all of the transmissionof the selected nerve. For example, the frequency may be about 1 Hz orgreater, such as between about 15 Hz to 50 Hz, more preferably around 25Hz. The modulation signal may have a pulse width selected to influencethe therapeutic result, such as about 20 microseconds or greater, suchas about 20 microseconds to about 1000 microseconds. In certainpreferred embodiments, the pulse width is between about 100 to 400microseconds. For example, the electric field induced by the devicewithin tissue in the vicinity of a nerve is 10 to 600 V/m, preferablyaround 300 V/m. The gradient of the electric field may be greater than 2V/m/mm. More generally, the stimulation device produces an electricfield in the vicinity of the nerve that is sufficient to cause the nerveto depolarize and reach a threshold for action potential propagation,which is approximately 8 V/m at 1000 Hz.

The preferred embodiment of magnetic stimulator coil 340 comprises atoroidal winding around a core consisting of high-permeability material(e.g., Supermendur), embedded in an electrically conducting medium.Toroidal coils with high permeability cores have been theoreticallyshown to greatly reduce the currents required for transcranial (TMS) andother forms of magnetic stimulation, but only if the toroids areembedded in a conducting medium and placed against tissue with no airinterface. [Rafael CARBUNARU and Dominique M. Durand. Toroidal coilmodels for transcutaneous magnetic stimulation of nerves. IEEETransactions on Biomedical Engineering 48 (No. 4, April 2001): 434-441;Rafael Carbunaru FAIERSTEIN, Coil Designs for Localized and EfficientMagnetic Stimulation of the Nervous System. Ph. D. Dissertation,Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve, May, 1999,page 117 (UMI Microform Number: 9940153, UMI Company, Ann Arbor Mich.)].

In order to explain some of the novelty of the presently disclosedinvention as compared with the device described in the above-mentionedCarbunaru and Durand publication, as well as in the FAIERSTEINdissertation upon which the publication was based, it is useful to firstsummarize the relevant physics of electric fields and currents that areinduced by time-varying magnetic fields, as produced by current—carryingcoils [Richard P. FEYNMAN, Robert B. Leighton, and Matthew Sands. TheFeynman Lectures on Physics. Volume II. Addison-Wesley Publ. Co.(Reading Mass., 1964), page 15-15; K. P. ESSELLE and M. A. Stuchly,Neural stimulation with magnetic fields: Analysis of induced electricfields, IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng., 39 (July 1992), pp. 693-700; R.BOWTELL and R. M. Bowley. Analytic Calculations of the E-Fields Inducedby Time-Varying Magnetic Fields Generated by Cylindrical Gradient Coils.Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 44:782-790 (2000); Feng LIU, Huawei Zhao,and Stuart Crozier. On the Induced Electric Field Gradients in the HumanBody for Magnetic Stimulation by Gradient Coils in MRI, IEEETransactions on Biomedical Engineering 50: (No. 7, July 2003) pp.804-815].

The magnetic field B may be represented as the curl of a vectorpotential A, where B and A are functions of position and time: B=∇×A

The electric field E, which is also a function of position and time,consists of two parts, E1 and E2: E=E₁+E₂. For a current-carrying coil,E1 is obtained from the vector potential A by:

$E_{1} = {{- \frac{\partial A}{\partial t}} = {- {\int{\frac{1}{4\pi}\frac{\partial( {\mu \; I} )}{\partial t}\frac{t}{r}}}}}$

where μ is the permeability, I is the current flowing in the coil, dl isan oriented differential element of the coil, r is the distance betweendl and the point at which the electric field E is measured, and theintegral is performed around all the differential elements dl of thecoil.

E2 is obtained from the gradient of a scalar potential Φ: E₂=−∇Φ. Thescalar potential arises because conductivity changes along the path of acurrent, particularly the abrupt change of conductivity at anair/conductor interface, causes electric charges to separate andaccumulate on the surface of the interface, with the amplitude and signof the charges changing as a function of surface position. Thus, noconduction current can flow across an air/conductor interface, soaccording to the interfacial boundary conditions, the component of anyinduced current normal to the interface must be zero. The existence of ascalar potential accounts for these effects.

The electrical current density J, which is also a function of positionand time, consists of two parts: J=J1+J2, corresponding to the two partsof E: J₁=σE₁ and J₂=σE₂, where the conductivity σ is generally a tensorand a function of position. If the current flows in material that isessentially unpolarizable (i.e., is presumed not to be a dielectric),any displacement current may be ignored, so the current would satisfyAmpere's law:

${\nabla{\times \frac{B}{\mu}}} = {J.}$

Because the divergence of the curl is zero, ∇·J=0. One may substitute J1and J2 into that equation to obtain: ∇·(σ

(E

₁1−∇Φ))=0. The latter equation has been solved numerically for specialcases to estimate the currents that are induced by a magnetic field thatis inserted into the body [W. WANG, S. R. Eisenberg, A three-dimensionalfinite element method for computing magnetically induced currents intissues. IEEE Transactions on Magnetics. 30 (6 Nov. 1994): 5015-5023;Bartosz SAWICKI, Robert Szmurto, Przemystaw Ptonecki, Jacek Starzyński,Stanislaw Wincenciak, Andrzej Rysz. Mathematical Modelling of VagusNerve Stimulation. pp. 92-97 in: Krawczyk, A. Electromagnetic Field,Health and Environment: Proceedings of EHE'07. Amsterdam, IOS Press,2008]. If the conductivity of material in the device (or patient) isitself selected to be a function of the electric field, then theequation becomes non-linear, which could exhibit multiple solutions,frequency multiplication, and other such non-linear behavior.

If the displacement current cannot be ignored, the displacement appearsas a term involving the time-derivative of the electric field in themore general expression: ∇·(δ(εE)/∂t+σ

(E

₁1−∇Φ))=0, where ε is the permittivity, which is a function of positionand is generally a tensor. As a consequence of such a term, the waveformof the electric field at any point will generally be altered relative tothe waveform of the current I(t) that is passed through the coils.Furthermore, if the permittivity of a material in the device is itselfselected to be a function of the electric field, then the equationbecomes non-linear, which could exhibit multiple solutions, frequencymultiplication, and other such non-linear behavior.

The above-mentioned publication by CARBUNARU and Durand, as well as theFAIERSTEIN dissertation upon which the publication was based, areheretofore unique in that they describe a magnetic stimulation devicethat does not create a magnetic field within the tissues that the deviceis intended to stimulate. Their device instead confines the magneticfield to a toroid, which is the only coil geometry known to create amagnetic field that is completely limited to part of space. With such adevice, the electric field alone penetrates the patient to stimulatenerves or tissue, which they calculate using device-specific equationsfor the fields E1 and E2 that were defined above. Unlike conventionalmagnetic stimulation devices, their device's electric field orientationis not limited to fields at the skin that are parallel to the skinsurface, due to the presence of conducting material that extends fromthe skin to (and beyond) the stimulator's coil. The boundary conditionsgiving rise to E2 were those of an infinite half-space. Thus, theirtoroidal coil was immersed in a homogeneous continuous conductingmaterial that had an air/conductor interface along an infinite planeparallel to the toroid, located at a variable distance from the toroid,and the toroid and conducting material were in contact with a patient'sskin.

In their investigations, Carbunaru and Durand varied E1 by only changingthe coil geometry (integral over dl) as follows. They investigatedwinding the coil around different core geometries (round, quartercircle, square) and changed the radius and thickness of the core. Theyalso varied E2 by varying the thickness of the conducting layer in whichthe toroid was immersed, thereby changing boundary conditions only inthat manner. Although Carbunaru and Durand demonstrated that it ispossible to electrically stimulate a patient transcutaneously with sucha device, they made no attempt to develop the device in such a way as togenerally shape the electric field to stimulate the nerve. Inparticular, the electric fields that may be produced by their device arelimited to those that are radially symmetric at any given depth ofstimulation into the patient (i.e, z and ρ are used to specify locationof the field, not x, y, and z). This is a significant limitation, and itresults in a deficiency that was noted in FIG. 6 of their publication:“at large depths of stimulation, the threshold current [in the device'scoil] for long axons is larger than the saturation current of the coil.Stimulation of those axons is only possible at low threshold points suchas bending sites or tissue conductivity inhomogeneities”. Thus, fortheir device, varying the parameters that they considered, in order toincrease the electric field or its gradient in the vicinity of a nerve,may come at the expense of limiting the field's physiologicaleffectiveness, such that the spatial extent of the field of stimulationmay be insufficient to modulate the target nerve's function. Yet, suchlong axons are precisely what we may wish to stimulate in therapeuticinterventions, such as the ones disclosed herein.

Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to shape anelongated electric field of effect that can be oriented parallel to sucha long nerve. The term “shape an electric field” as used herein means tocreate an electric field or its gradient that is generally not radiallysymmetric at a given depth of stimulation in the patient, especially afield that is characterized as being elongated or finger-like, andespecially also a field in which the magnitude of the field in somedirection may exhibit more than one spatial maximum (i.e. may be bimodalor multimodal) such that the tissue between the maxima may contain anarea across which induced current flow is restricted. Shaping of theelectric field refers both to the circumscribing of regions within whichthere is a significant electric field and to configuring the directionsof the electric field within those regions.

Thus, the present invention differs from the device disclosed byCARBUNARU and Durand by deliberately shaping an electric field that isused to transcutaneously stimulate the patient. Our invention does so byconfiguring elements that are present within the equations that weresummarized above, comprising (but not limited to) the followingexemplary configurations that may be used alone or in combination.

First, the contours of the coil differential elements dl that areintegrated in the above equation for E1 are shaped into a geometry otherthan a single planar toroid. For example, two separate toroidal coilsare used so that E1 becomes the sum of two integrals, or the shape of asingle toroid is twisted to resemble a figure-of-8 rather than a planartoroid.

Second, the value of the current I in the above equation for E1 ismanipulated to shape the electric field. For example, if the devicecontains two toroidal coils, the current in one toroid may be thenegative of the current in the other toroid. As another example, themagnitude of the current in a left toroidal coil may be varied relativeto the magnitude of the current in a right toroidal coil, so that thelocation of their superimposed induced electric fields may becorrespondingly moved (focused) in the left or right directions.

Third, the scalar potential Φ in the above equation for E2 ismanipulated to shape the electric field. For example, this isaccomplished by changing the boundaries of conductor/air (ornon-conductor) interfaces, thereby creating different boundaryconditions. Whereas the toroid in the CARBUNARU and Durand publicationwas immersed in a homogeneous conducting half-space, this is notnecessarily the case for our invention. Although our invention willgenerally have some continuously conducting path between the device'scoil and the patient's skin, the conducting medium need not totallyimmerse the coil, and there may be insulating voids within theconducting medium. For example, if the device contains two toroids,conducting material may connect each of the toroids individually to thepatient's skin, but there may be an insulating gap (from air or someother insulator) between the surfaces at which conducting materialconnected to the individual toroids contact the patient. Furthermore,the area of the conducting material that contacts the skin may be madevariable, by using an aperture adjusting mechanism such as an irisdiaphragm. As another example, if the coil is wound around core materialthat is laminated, with the core in contact with the device'selectrically conducting material, then the lamination may be extendedinto the conducting material in such a way as to direct the inducedelectrical current between the laminations and towards the surface ofthe patient's skin. As another example, the conducting material may passthrough apertures in an insulated mesh before contacting the patient'sskin, creating thereby an array of electric field maxima.

Fourth, the conductivity σ (in the equations J=σE₁ and J₂=σE₂) may bevaried spatially within the device by using two or more differentconducting materials that are in contact with one another, for givenboundary conditions. The conductivity may also be varied by constructingsome conducting material from a semiconductor, which allows foradjustment of the conductivity in space and in time by exposure of thesemiconductor to agents to which they are sensitive, such as electricfields, light at particular wavelengths, temperature, or some otherenvironmental variable over which the user of the device has control.For the special case in which the semiconductor's conductivity may bemade to approach zero, that would approximate the imposition of aninterfacial boundary condition as described in the previous paragraph.As another example, the conducting material of the device may beselected to have a three-dimensional conductivity structure thatapproximates that of the conducting tissue under the patient's skin, butoriented in the opposite and/or mirror image directions, in such a waythat the conductivity is symmetrical on either side of the patient'sskin. Such an arrangement will allow for essentially symmetricalelectrical stimulation of the patient's tissue and the conductingmaterial within the device.

Fifth, a dialectric material having a high permittivity ε, such asMylar, neoprene, titanium dioxide, or strontium titanate, may be used inthe device, for example, in order to permit capacitive electricalcoupling to the patient's skin.

Sixth, the present invention is more general than the device describedin the above-mentioned publication of CARBUNARU and Durand in that,although the magnetic field produced by the present invention does noteffectively penetrate the patient's tissue, that feature need not be dueto the use of a toroidal coil. The magnetic field will not effectivelypenetrate the patient's tissue if the field's de minimis existencewithin the patient would produce no significant physiological effect.For example, it would not produce a significant physiological effect ifthe magnitude of the magnetic field were of the same order of magnitudeas the earth's magnetic field. The magnetic field of our discloseddevice may be produced by a coil other than a toroid, wherein themagnetic field outside the coil falls rapidly as a function of distancefrom the coil. For example, the coil may be a solenoid that has anapproximately centrally-confined magnetic field as the density of coilturns and the length of the solenoid increase. As another example, thecoil may be a partial toroid, which would also have a magnetic fieldthat approximates that of a complete toroid as the gap within thepartial-toroid decreases to zero. As another example, even if one isattempting to construct a complete toroidal winding, the presence oflead wires and imperfections of the winding may cause the device inpractice to deviate from the ideal toroid. Such non-toroidal windingsmay be used in the present invention if they are backed away and/ororiented relative to the patient's skin in such a way that the magneticfield that is produced by the device does not effectively penetrate thepatient's tissue. Alternatively, magnetic shielding, such as mumetal,supermalloy, supermumetal, nilomag, sanbold, molybdenum permalloy,Sendust, M-1040, Hipernom and HyMu-80, may be interposed between thepatient and coil of the device in such a way that the magnetic fieldthat is produced by the device does not effectively penetrate thepatient's tissue.

In the dissertation cited above, Carbunaru-FAIERSTEIN made no attempt touse conducting material other than agar in a KCI solution, and he madeno attempt to devise a device that could be conveniently and safelyapplied to a patient's skin, at an arbitrary angle without theconducting material spilling out of its container. It is therefore anobjective of the present invention to disclose conducting material thatcan be used not only to adapt the conductivity σ and select boundaryconditions, thereby shaping the electric fields and currents asdescribed above, but also to create devices that can be appliedpractically to any surface of the body. The volume of the containercontaining electrically conducting medium is labeled in FIG. 1 as 350.Use of the container of conducting medium 350 allows one to generate(induce) electric fields in tissue (and electric field gradients andelectric currents) that are equivalent to those generated using currentmagnetic stimulation devices, but with about 0.0001 to 0.01 of thecurrent conventionally applied to a magnetic stimulation coil. Thisallows for minimal heating and deeper tissue stimulation. However,application of the conducting medium to the surface of the patient isdifficult to perform in practice because the tissue contours (head forTMS, arms, legs, neck, etc. for peripheral nerve stimulation) are notplanar. To solve this problem, in the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, the toroidal coil is embedded in a structure which isfilled with a conducting medium having a much higher conductivity asmuscle tissue, as now described. In the preferred embodiment, theconducting medium will have a conductivity that is equivalent to salineor up to 10 times the conductivity of saline.

In one embodiment of the invention, the container contains holes orapertures so that the conducting material (e.g., a conducting gas,liquid or gel) can make physical contact with the patient's skin throughthe holes. For example, the conducting medium 350 may comprise a chambersurrounding the coil, filled with a conductive gel that has theapproximate viscosity and mechanical consistency of gel deodorant (e.g.,Right Guard Clear Gel from Dial Corporation, 15501 N. Dial Boulevard,Scottsdale Ariz. 85260, one composition of which comprises aluminumchlorohydrate, sorbitol, propylene glycol, polydimethylsiloxanes Siliconoil, cyclomethicone, ethanol/SD Alcohol 40, dimethicone copolyol,aluminum zirconium tetrachlorohydrex gly, and water). The gel, which ispreferably a conventional electrode gel, is maintained in the chamberwith a mesh of openings at the end where the device is to contact thepatient's skin. The gel does not leak out, and it can be dispensed witha simple screw driven piston.

In another embodiment, the container itself is made of a conductingelastomer (e.g., dry carbon-filled silicone elastomer), and electricalcontact with the patient is through the elastomer itself, possiblythrough an additional outside coating of conducting material. In someembodiments of the invention, the conducting medium may be a balloonfilled with a conducting gel or conducting powders, or the balloon maybe constructed extensively from deformable conducting elastomers. Theballoon conforms to the skin surface, removing any air, thus allowingfor high impedance matching and conduction of large electric fields into the tissue. A device such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.7,591,776, entitled Magnetic stimulators and stimulating coils, toPHILLIPS et al. may conform the coil itself to the contours of the body,but in the preferred embodiment, such a curved coil is also enclosed bya container that is filled with a conducting medium that deforms to becontiguous with the skin.

Agar can also be used as part of the conducting medium, but it is notpreferred, because agar degrades in time, is not ideal to use againstskin, and presents difficulties with cleaning the patient and stimulatorcoil. Use of agar in a 4M KCI solution as a conducting medium wasmentioned in the above-cited dissertation: Rafael Carbunaru FAIERSTEIN,Coil Designs for Localized and Efficient Magnetic Stimulation of theNervous System. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of BiomedicalEngineering, Case Western Reserve, May, 1999, page 117 (UMI MicroformNumber: 9940153, UMI Company, Ann Arbor Mich.). However, thatpublication makes no mention or suggestion of placing the agar in aconducting elastomeric balloon, or other deformable container so as toallow the conducting medium to conform to the generally non-planarcontours of a patient's skin having an arbitrary orientation. In fact,that publication describes the coil as being submerged in a containerfilled with an electrically conducting solution. If the coil andcontainer were placed on a body surface that was oriented in thevertical direction, then the conducting solution would spill out, makingit impossible to stimulate the body surface in that orientation. Incontrast, the present invention is able to stimulate body surfaceshaving arbitrary orientation. Examples making use of the present deviceshow the body surface as having many different orientations (FIGS. 6, 8,9, and 10) that are incompatible with the disclosure in the above-citeddissertation.

That dissertation also makes no mention of a dispensing method wherebythe agar would be made contiguous with the patient's skin. A layer ofelectrolytic gel is said to have been applied between the skin and coil,but the configuration was not described clearly in the publication. Inparticular, no mention is made of the electrolytic gel being in contactwith the agar.

Rather than using agar as the conducting medium, the coil can instead beembedded in a conducting solution such as 0.9-10% NaCl, contacting anelectrically conducting interface to the human tissue. Such an interfaceis used as it allows current to flow from the coil into the tissue andsupports the medium-surrounded toroid so that it can be completelysealed. Thus, the interface is material, interposed between theconducting medium and patient's skin, that allows the conducting medium(e.g., saline solution) to slowly leak through it, allowing current toflow to the skin. Several interfaces are disclosed as follows.

One interface comprises conducting material that is hydrophilic, such asTecophlic from The Lubrizol Corporation, 29400 Lakeland Boulevard,Wickliffe, Ohio 44092. It absorbs from 10-100% of its weight in water,making it highly electrically conductive, while allowing only minimalbulk fluid flow.

Another material that may be used as an interface is a hydrogel, such asthat used on standard EEG, EKG and TENS electrodes [Rylie A GREEN,Sungchul Baek, Laura A Poole-Warren and Penny J Martens. Conductingpolymer-hydrogels for medical electrode applications. Sci. Technol. Adv.Mater. 11 (2010) 014107 (13pp)]. For example it may be the followinghypoallergenic, bacteriostatic electrode gel: SIGNAGEL Electrode Gelfrom Parker Laboratories, Inc., 286 Eldridge Rd., Fairfield N.J. 07004.

A third type of interface may be made from a very thin material with ahigh dielectric constant, such as those used to make capacitors. Forexample, Mylar can be made in submicron thicknesses and has a dielectricconstant of about 3. Thus, at stimulation frequencies of severalkilohertz or greater, the Mylar will capacitively couple the signalthrough it because it will have an impedance comparable to that of theskin itself. Thus, it will isolate the toroid and the solution it isembedded in from the tissue, yet allow current to pass.

The preferred embodiment of the magnetic stimulator coil 340 in FIG. 1reduces the volume of conducting material that must surround a toroidalcoil, by using two toroids, side-by-side, and passing electrical currentthrough the two toroidal coils in opposite directions. In thisconfiguration, the induced current will flow from the lumen of onetoroid, through the tissue and back through the lumen of the other,completing the circuit within the toroids' conducting medium. Thus,minimal space for the conducting medium is required around the outsideof the toroids at positions near from the gap between the pair of coils.An additional advantage of using two toroids in this configuration isthat this design will greatly increase the magnitude of the electricfield gradient between them, which is particularly advantageous forexciting long, straight axons such as the vagus nerve and certainperipheral nerves.

This preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 3. FIGS. 3Aand 3B respectively provide top and bottom views of the outer surface ofthe toroidal magnetic stimulator 30. FIGS. 3C and 3C respectivelyprovide top and bottom views of the toroidal magnetic stimulator 30,after sectioning along its long axis to reveal the inside of thestimulator.

FIGS. 3A-3D all show a mesh 31 with openings that permit a conductinggel to pass from the inside of the stimulator to the surface of thepatient's skin at the location of nerve or tissue stimulation. Thus, themesh with openings 31 is the part of the stimulator that is applied tothe skin of the patient.

FIGS. 3B-3D show openings at the opposite end of the stimulator 30. Oneof the openings is an electronics port 32 through which wires pass fromthe stimulator coil(s) to the impulse generator (310 in FIG. 1). Thesecond opening is a conducting gel port 33 through which conducting gelmay be introduced into the stimulator 30 and through which ascrew-driven piston arm may be introduced to dispense conducting gelthrough the mesh 31. The gel itself will be contained withincylindrical-shaped but interconnected conducting medium chambers 34 thatare shown in FIGS. 3C and 3D.

In the prior art device, the depth of the conducting medium chambers 34,which is approximately the height of the long axis of the stimulator,affects the magnitude of the electric fields and currents that areinduced by the device [Rafael CARBUNARU and Dominique M. Durand.Toroidal coil models for transcutaneous magnetic stimulation of nerves.IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering. 48 (No. 4, April 2001):434-441]. The present invention, however, utilizes a conductive mediumthat has a much higher conductivity than the patient's tissue, whichmakes the device of the present invention significantly more efficientthan the device described in the Carbunaru article.. Therefore, thedepth of the conducting medium chambers 34 is not critical to theperformance of the device and not critical to enabling the electricfield or current to be passed through the patient's skin to the targetregion.

FIGS. 3C and 3D also show the coils of wire 35 that are wound aroundtoroidal cores 36, consisting of high-permeability material (e.g.,Supermendur). Lead wires (not shown) for the coils 35 pass from thestimulator coil(s) to the impulse generator (310 in FIG. 1) via theelectronics port 32. Different circuit configurations are contemplated.If separate lead wires for each of the coils 35 connect to the impulsegenerator (i.e., parallel connection), and if the pair of coils arewound with the same handedness around the cores, then the design is forcurrent to pass in opposite directions through the two coils. On theother hand, if the coils are wound with opposite handedness around thecores, then the lead wires for the coils may be connected in series tothe impulse generator, or if they are connected to the impulse generatorin parallel, then the design is for current to pass in the samedirection through both coils.

As seen in FIGS. 3C and 3D, the coils 35 and cores 36 around which theyare wound are mounted as close as practical to the corresponding mesh 31with openings through which conducting gel passes to the surface of thepatient's skin. As seen in FIG. 3D, each coil and the core around whichit is wound is mounted in its own housing 37, the function of which isto provide mechanical support to the coil and core, as well as toelectrically insulate a coil from its neighboring coil. With thisdesign, induced current will flow from the lumen of one toroid, throughthe tissue and back through the lumen of the other, completing thecircuit within the toroids' conducting medium.

Different diameter toroidal coils and windings may be preferred fordifferent applications. For a generic application, the outer diameter ofthe core may be typically 1 to 5 cm, with an inner diameter typically0.5 to 0.75 of the outer diameter. The coil's winding around the coremay be typically 3 to 250 in number, depending on the core diameter anddepending on the desired coil inductance.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 3 contains two toroids, in which the outersurface of the toroids are planar, the toroids lie side-by-side, and thecorresponding outer surfaces for both toroids lie essentially in thesame plane. Many different embodiments are also contemplated, each ofwhich may be better suited to the stimulation of particular nerves ortissues. Examples of such alternate embodiments are illustrated in FIG.4, showing the geometry of the toroidal core material around which coilsof wire (not shown) would be wound. The darkened faces of the figuresshown there indicate the faces that would be oriented towards thepatient's skin. Instead of placing the toroids side-by-side as in FIG.3, a pair of torioids may be placed concentrically as shown in FIG. 4A.Instead of using two toroids, any number could be used, as illustratedby FIG. 4B that shows four concentrically positioned toroids. Individualplanar toroids need not all lie in the same plane, as shown in FIG. 4C.In fact, the toroids themselves need not have a planar structure, asillustrated in FIGS. 4D and 4E. Furthermore, the toroids need not have around structure or a structure comprising arcs, as illustrated in FIG.4F, which shows a pair of concentrically positioned square toroids. Theexamples shown here have toroids that are rectangular or square whensectioned perpendicular to their perimeters. In other embodiments, thesectioned toroid could have any other closed geometry, such as a circleor an ellipse or a geometry that changes from one part of the toroid toanother.

Thus, the geometrical configuration of the disclosed device is general.For example, it may comprise a plurality of toroids. It may comprise twotoroids wherein one toroid lies within the aperture of the secondtoroid. A surface having a minimum area that fills an aperture of atoroid need not lie within a plane. The projection of the volume of atoroidal core onto a plane need not produce a circular shape around anyperimeter of any such projection. For a plurality of toroids, a planehaving a greatest area of intersection through one toroid among theplurality may, but need not, be parallel to a plane having a greatestarea of intersection through some second toroid among the plurality.

The design and methods of use of impulse generators, control units, andstimulator coils for magnetic stimulators are informed by the designsand methods of use of impulse generators, control units, and electrodes(with leads) for comparable completely electrical nerve stimulators, butdesign and methods of use of the magnetic stimulators must take intoaccount many special considerations, making it generally notstraightforward to transfer knowledge of completely electricalstimulation methods to magnetic stimulation methods. Such considerationsinclude determining the anatomical location of the stimulation anddetermining the appropriate pulse configuration [OLNEY R K, So Y T,Goodin D S, Aminoff M J. A comparison of magnetic and electricstimulation of peripheral nerves. Muscle Nerve 1990:13:957-963; J.NILSSON, M. Panizza, B. J. Roth et al. Determining the site ofstimulation during magnetic stimulation of the peripheral nerve,Electroencephalographs and clinical neurophysiology. vol 85, pp.253-264, 1992; Nafia AL-MUTAWALY, Hubert de Bruin, and Gary Hasey. TheEffects of Pulse Configuration on Magnetic Stimulation. Journal ofClinical Neurophysiology 20(5):361-370, 2003].

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, electronic components ofthe stimulator (impulse generator, control unit, and power source) arecompact, portable, and simple to operate. The preferred simplicity isillustrated in FIG. 5, which shows the stimulator coil housing 30(illustrated in more detail as 30 in FIG. 3), which is connected byelectrical cable to a circuit control box 38. As shown in FIG. 5, thecircuit control box 38 will generally require only an on/off switch anda power controller, provided that the parameters of stimulationdescribed in connection with FIG. 2 have already been programmed for theparticular application of the device. For such a portable device, poweris provided by batteries, e.g., a 9 volt battery or two to six 1.5V AAbatteries. A covering cap 39 is also provided to fit snugly over themesh (31 in FIG. 3) of the stimulator coil housing 30, in order to keepthe housing's conducting medium from leaking or drying when the deviceis not in use.

In the preferred embodiment for a generic therapeutic application, thecurrents passing through the coils of the magnetic stimulator willsaturate the core (e.g., 0.1 to 2 Tesla magnetic field strength forSupermendur core material). This will require approximately 0.5 to 20amperes of current being passed through each coil, typically 2 amperes,with voltages across each coil of 10 to 100 volts. The current is passedthrough the coils in bursts of pulses. The burst repeats at 1 Hz to 5000Hz, preferably at 15-50 Hz. The pulses have duration of 20 to 1000microseconds, preferably 200 microseconds and there may be 1 to 20pulses per burst. Other waveforms described above in connection withFIG. 2 are also generated, depending on the nerve or tissue stimulationapplication.

Examples in the remaining disclosure will be directed to use of thedisclosed toroidal magnetic stimulation device for treatment of specificmedical conditions. These applications involve stimulating a patient inand around the patient's neck, abdomen, ankle, and head. However, itwill be appreciated that the systems and methods of the presentinvention can be applied equally well to other tissues and nerves of thebody, including but not limited to parasympathetic nerves, sympatheticnerves, spinal or cranial nerves, and brain tissue. In addition, thepresent invention can be used to directly or indirectly stimulate orotherwise modulate nerves that innervate smooth or skeletal muscle,endocrine glands, and organs of the digestive system.

In some preferred embodiments of methods that make use of the disclosedtoroidal-coil magnetic stimulation device, selected nerve fibers arestimulated. These include stimulation of the vagus nerve at a locationin the patient's neck. At that location, the vagus nerve is situatedwithin the carotid sheath, near the carotid artery and the interiorjugular vein. The carotid sheath is located at the lateral boundary ofthe retopharyngeal space on each side of the neck and deep to thesternocleidomastoid muscle. The left vagus nerve is ordinarily selectedfor stimulation because stimulation of the right vagus nerve may produceundesired effects on the heart.

The three major structures within the carotid sheath are the commoncarotid artery, the internal jugular vein and the vagus nerve. Thecarotid artery lies medial to the internal jugular vein, and the vagusnerve is situated posteriorly between the two vessels. Typically, thelocation of the carotid sheath or interior jugular vein in a patient(and therefore the location of the vagus nerve) will be ascertained inany manner known in the art, e.g., by feel or ultrasound imaging.Proceeding from the skin of the neck above the sternocleidomastoidmuscle to the vagus nerve, a line may pass successively through thesternocleidomastoid muscle, the carotid sheath and the internal jugularvein, unless the position on the skin is immediately to either side ofthe external jugular vein. In the latter case, the line may passsuccessively through only the sternocleidomastoid muscle and the carotidsheath before encountering the vagus nerve, missing the interior jugularvein. Accordingly, a point on the neck adjacent to the external jugularvein might be preferred for non-invasive stimulation of the vagus nerve.The magnetic stimulator coil may be centered on such a point, at thelevel of about the fifth to sixth cervical vertebra.

FIG. 6 illustrates use of the device shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 5 tostimulate the vagus nerve at that location in the neck, in which thestimulator device 30 is applied to the target location on the patient'sneck as described above. For reference, locations of the followingvertebrae are also shown: first cervical vertebra 71, the fifth cervicalvertebra 75, the sixth cervical vertebra 76, and the seventh cervicalvertebra 77.

FIG. 7 provides a more detailed view of use of the toroidal magneticstimulator device, when positioned to stimulate the vagus nerve at theneck location that is indicated in FIG. 6.

As shown, the toroidal magnetic stimulator 30 touches the neckindirectly, by making electrical contact through conducting gel 29 (orother conducting material) that is dispensed through mesh openings ofthe stimulator (identified as 31 in FIG. 3). It is understood that thedevice 30 is connected via wires or cables (not shown) to an impulsegenerator 310 as in FIG. 1, although it is also possible that device 30may be battery operated and/or wirelessly connected to generator 310.The vagus nerve 60 is identified in FIG. 7, along with the carotidsheath 61 that is identified there in bold peripheral outline. Thecarotid sheath encloses not only the vagus nerve, but also the internaljugular vein 62 and the common carotid artery 63. Features that may beidentified near the surface of the neck include the external jugularvein 64 and the sternocleidomastoid muscle 65. Additional organs in thevicinity of the vagus nerve include the trachea 66, thyroid gland 67,esophagus 68, scalenus anterior muscle 69, and scalenus medius muscle70. The sixth cervical vertebra 76 is also shown in FIG. 7, with bonystructure indicated by hatching marks.

Magnetic stimulation has been used by several investigators tonon-invasively stimulate the vagus nerve, in the neck and at otherlocations. In a series of articles beginning in 1992, Aziz andcolleagues describe using non-invasive magnetic stimulation toelectrically stimulate the vagus nerve in the neck. [Q. AZIZ et al.Magnetic Stimulation of Efferent Neural Pathways to the HumanOesophagus. Gut 33: S53-S70 (Poster Session F218) (1992); AZIZ, Q., J.C. Rothwell, J. Barlow, A. Hobson, S. Alani, J. Bancewicz, and D. G.Thompson. Esophageal myoelectric responses to magnetic stimulation ofthe human cortex and the extracranial vagus nerve. Am. J. Physiol. 267(Gastrointest. Liver Physiol. 30): G827-G835, 1994; Shaheen HAMDY, QasimAziz, John C. Rothwell, Anthony Hobson, Josephine Barlow, and David G.Thompson. Cranial nerve modulation of human cortical swallowing motorpathways. Am. J. Physiol. 272 (Gastrointest. Liver Physiol. 35):G802-G808, 1997; Shaheen HAMDY, John C. Rothwell, Qasim Aziz, Krishna D.Singh, and David G. Thompson. Long-term reorganization of human motorcortex driven by short-term sensory stimulation. Nature Neuroscience 1(issue 1, May 1998):64-68.] SIMS and colleagues stimulated the vagusnerve at and near the mastoid tip. [H. Steven SIMS, Toshiyuki Yamashita,Karen Rhew, and Christy L. Ludlow. Assessing the clinical utility of themagnetic stimulator for measuring response latencies in the laryngealmuscles. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1996; 114:761-7]. KHEDR andcolleagues also used a magnetic stimulator to stimulate the vagus nerveat the tip of the mastoid bone [E. M. KHEDR and E-E. M. ArefElectrophysiological study of vocal-fold mobility disorders using amagnetic stimulator. European Journal of Neurology 2002, 9: 259-267;KHEDR, E. M., Abo-Elfetoh, N., Ahmed, M. A., Kamel, N. F., Farook, M.,El Karn, M. F. Dysphagia and hemispheric stroke: A transcranial magneticstudy. Neurophysiologie Clinique/Clinical Neurophysiology (2008) 38,235-242)]. SHAFIK stimulated the vagus nerve in the neck, placing themagnetic stimulator on the neck between the sternomastoid muscle and thetrachea. [A. SHAFIK. Functional magnetic stimulation of the vagus nerveenhances colonic transit time in healthy volunteers. Tech Coloproctol(1999) 3:123-12]. Among these investigations, the one by SHAFIKstimulated the vagus nerve for the longest period of time. He stimulatedat 175 joules per pulse, 40 Hz frequency, 10 seconds on, 10 seconds offfor 20 minutes duration and followed by 60 minutes of rest, and thissequence was performed for 5 cycles in each subject.

The vagus is not the only nerve that may be stimulated non-invasively inthe neck using magnetic stimulation. For example, the phrenic nerve hasalso been magnetically stimulated. [SIMILOWSKI, T., B. Fleury, S.Launois, H. P. Cathala, P. Bouche, and J. P. Derenne. Cervical magneticstimulation: a new painless method for bilateral phrenic nervestimulation in conscious humans. J. Appl. Physiol. 67(4): 1311-1318,1989; Gerrard F. RAFFERTY, Anne Greenough, Terezia Manczur, Michael I.Polkey, M. Lou Harris, Nigel D. Heaton, Mohamed Rela, and John Moxham.Magnetic phrenic nerve stimulation to assess diaphragm function inchildren following liver transplantation. Pediatr Crit Care Med 2001,2:122-126; W. D-C. MAN, J. Moxham, and M. I. Polkey. Magneticstimulation for the measurement of respiratory and skeletal musclefunction. Eur Respir J 2004; 24: 846-860]. If one intends to stimulateonly the vagus nerve, careful positioning of the stimulator coil shouldbe undertaken in order to avoid co-stimulation of the phrenic nerve, orthe magnetic stimulation waveform may be designed to minimize the effectof any co-stimulation of the vagus and phrenic nerves [patentapplication JP2008/081479A, entitled Vagus nerve stimulation system, toYOSHIHOTO].

If it is desired to maintain a constant intensity of stimulation in thevicinity of the vagus nerve (or any other nerve or tissue that is beingstimulated), methods may also be employed to modulate the power of thestimulator in order to compensate for patient motion or other mechanismsthat would otherwise give rise to variability in the intensity ofstimulation. In the case of stimulation of the vagus nerve, suchvariability may be attributable to the patient's breathing, which mayinvolve contraction and associated change in geometry of thesternocleidomastoid muscle that is situated close to the vagus nerve(identified as 65 in FIG. 7). Methods for compensating for motion andother confounding factors were disclosed by the present applicant inco-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/859,568 filed Aug. 19,2010 entitled Non-Invasive Treatment of Bronchial Constriction, toSIMON, which is hereby incorporated by reference. In the presentapplication, an additional compensation method is disclosed below. Inbrief, the electrical impedance of the magnetic stimulator coil ismonitored to ascertain whether that impedance is fluctuating as afunction of the phase of respiration (or other contributing variablesuch as drift). If such fluctuation is found, the power to coil(s) ofthe magnetic stimulator may be modulated as a function of the phase ofrespiration or other contributing factor, in order to compensate.

Several examples follow, exemplifying therapies involving stimulation ofthe vagus nerve in the neck using the disclosed magnetic stimulationdevice. However, it is understood that stimulation of the vagus nervecould also be performed at locations other than the neck [Polak T,Markulin F, Ehlis A C, Langer J B, Ringel T M, Fallgatter A J. Far fieldpotentials from brain stem after transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation:optimization of stimulation and recording parameters. J Neural Transm.2009 October; 116(10):1237-42]. Examples of vagus nerve stimulation arefor the treatment of post-operative ileus, for treatment of dysfunctionassociated with TNF-alpha in Alzheimer's disease, for treatment ofpostoperative cognitive dysfunction, and for treatment of rheumatoidarthritis. Although the mechanisms and details of the treatment of thesediseases are different, one aspect that they have in common is that theymay be at least partially related to inflammation that may be controlledby stimulation of the vagus nerve [JOHNSTON G R, Webster N R. Cytokinesand the immunomodulatory function of the vagus nerve. Br J Anaesth(2009) 102:453-62; GROVES D A, Brown V J. Vagal nerve stimulation: areview of its applications and potential mechanisms that mediate itsclinical effects. Neurosci Biobehav Rev (2005) 29:493-500; GUYON A,Massa F, Rovère C, Nahon J L. How cytokines can influence the brain: arole for chemokines? J Neuroimmunol 2008; 198:46-55.]. Those examplesare followed by an example of stimulation of the vagus nerve in the neckusing the disclosed device, in order to treat bronchoconstriction. Thatis followed by examples of therapies for disorders involving stimulationusing the device disclosed here, in which the disorders do notnecessarily involve stimulation of the vagus nerve.

Postoperative ileus is a temporary paralysis of a portion of theintestines that occurs typically after an abdominal surgery. The muscleof the bowel wall is transiently impaired and fails to transportintestinal contents. This lack of coordinated propulsive action leads tothe accumulation of gas and fluids within the bowel. Patients with ileusare immobilized, have discomfort and pain, and are at increased risk forpulmonary complications.

Postoperative ileus occurs in approximately 50% of patients who undergomajor abdominal surgery. Although ileus is most often seen followingsurgery, it may also be caused by sepsis, drugs (eg, opioids, antacids,warfarin, amitriptyline, chlorpromazine), metabolic problems (e.g., lowpotassium, magnesium, or sodium levels; anemia; hyposmolality),myocardial infarction, pneumonia, trauma (eg, fractured ribs, fracturedspine), biliary colic and renal colic, head injury and neurosurgicalprocedures, intra-abdominal inflammation and peritonitis, andretroperitoneal hematomas.

Postoperative ileus is mediated via activation of inhibitory spinalreflex arcs. Intestinal inflammation triggered by handling of theintestine is thought to be the main mechanism. Local inflammationinhibits not only the contractile activity of the portion of theintestine that was handled during surgery, but it also activatesinhibitory neural pathways and possibly triggers inflammation at distantuntouched areas, leading to a generalized impairment of gastrointestinalmotility [G E BOECKXSTAENS and W J de Jonge. Neuroimmune mechanisms inpostoperative ileus. Gut 2009; 58:1300-1311]. Consequently, minimalinvasive surgery is preferred to minimize trauma that would cause ileus.At least three distinct reflexes are involved: ultrashort reflexesconfined to the bowel wall, short reflexes involving prevertebralganglia, and long reflexes involving the spinal cord. The long reflexesare the most significant. Spinal anesthesia, abdominal sympathectomy,and nerve-cutting techniques have been demonstrated to either prevent orattenuate the development of ileus.

Natural recovery from post-operative ileus ordinarily occurs within 3-5days, with function regained successively by the small bowel, thestomach, and the colon. Patients are given intravenous hydration,medications that may produce ileus are discontinued (e.g., opiates) andnonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are administered, possibly with acyclooxygenase-2 selective agent (celecoxib) to counteract possibleplatelet dysfunction. Oral feeding is discontinued until the ileusresolves clinically, but enteral nutrition is found to be essential forenhanced recovery after surgery, and patients may be encouraged to chewgum to promote gastrointestinal motility. Lidocaine may be administeredduring and after abdominal surgery, and thoracic epidurals containingbupivacaine alone or in combination with opioids and selective opioidantagonists methylnaltrexone (Relistor) or alvimopan (Entereg) may alsobe administered.

Considering the discomfort of the patient and the costs associated withhospitalization for post-operative ileus, therapies are being developedto reduce its likelihood or shorten its duration [Michael D. JOHNSON andR. Matthew Walsh. Current therapies to shorten postoperative ileus.

Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine November 2009 vol. 76 (11)641-648]. Many of these involve administration of anti-inflammatoryagents, such as mast cell stabilizers, non-steroidal anti-inflammatorydrugs, and interleukin-10. Administration of carbon monoxide,pretreatment with blocking antibodies to intracellular adhesionmolecule-1 and lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1, inactivatingmacrophages, and preventing mast cell activation are also underinvestigation.

Electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve has also been shown toameliorate postoperative ileus by inhibiting local intestinalinflammation [Borovikova L V, Ivanova S, Zhang M, Yang H, Botchkina G I,Watkins L R, Wang H, Abumrad N, Eaton J W, Tracey K J. Vagus nervestimulation attenuates the systemic inflammatory response to endotoxin.Nature 2000; 405: 458-462; VANDERZANDEN E P, Snoek S A, Heinsbroek S E,Stanisor O I, Verseijden C, Boeckxstaens G E, Peppelenbosch M P, GreavesD R, Gordon S, De Jonge W J. Vagus nerve activity augments intestinalmacrophage phagocytosis via nicotinic acetylcholine receptoralpha4beta2. Gastroenterology 2009; 137: 1029-1039, 1039.e1-e4; THE FO,Boeckxstaens G E, Snoek S A, Cash J L, Bennink R, Larosa G J, van denWijngaard R M, Greaves D R, de Jonge W J. Activation of the cholinergicanti-inflammatory pathway ameliorates postoperative ileus in mice.Gastroenterology 2007; 133: 1219-1228; Patent applications US20080183237and US20090157138, entitled Methods And Apparatus For Treating IleusCondition Using Electrical Signals to ERRICO]. However, vagal nervestimulation as ordinarily practiced is an invasive procedure, so someinvestigators have instead attempted to induce a vagal responseindirectly, by chewing gum or by providing nutrition that is rich inlipids.

Use of noninvasive magnetic stimulation of the vagus nerve has beenattempted or suggested to influence gastrointestinal mobility, but itsuse to treat post-operative ileus has only been mentioned tangentially[A. Shafik. Functional magnetic stimulation of the vagus nerve enhancescolonic transit time in healthy volunteers. Techniques in ColoproctologyVolume 3 (1999, No. 3), 123-126; Patent applications US20060178703,entitled Treating inflammatory disorders by electrical vagus nervestimulation, to HUSTON et al.; US20090143831 Treating inflammatorydisorders by stimulation of the cholinergic anti-inflammation pathway toHUSTON et al.; US20100222629 Method and apparatus for magnetic inductiontherapy, to BURNETT et al]. As described above, the magnetic stimulationdevice disclosed herein is not intended to generate a magnetic fieldwithin bodily tissue, so it would produce its effect through a differentmechanism than conventional magnetic stimulation.

Treatment of post-operative ileus using the disclosed toroidal magneticstimulator is illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, which shows its positioningat one suitable anatomical location. The toroidal magnetic stimulationdevice of the present invention 30 is initially positioned there. It isunderstood that the device 30 is connected via wires or cables (notshown) to an impulse generator 310 as in FIG. 1. Conducting medium(e.g., conducting gel) is dispensed to the patient's skin as describedabove (e.g., 29 in FIG. 7). The position and angular orientation of thedevice are then adjusted about that location until the patient perceivesstimulation when current is passed through the stimulator coils. Theapplied current is increased gradually, first to a level wherein thepatient feels sensation from the stimulation. The power is thenincreased, but is set to a level that is less than one at which thepatient first indicates any discomfort. Straps, harnesses, or frames areused to maintain the stimulator in position (not shown in FIG. 6 or 7).The stimulator signal may have a frequency and other parameters that areselected to influence the therapeutic result. For example, a pulse widthmay be from about 0.01 ms to 500.0 ms, typically 200 ms. The pulses maybe delivered at a frequency of 0.5 to 500 Hz., typically 20 Hz. Thestimulation may be performed for 1 to 200 minutes, typically for 30minutes. Typically, the treatment is performed once as needed but mayalso be performed repeatedly, e.g., once a week for 12 weeks. However,parameters of the stimulation may be varied in order to obtain abeneficial response, as indicated, for example, by enhanced contractileactivity of the gastrointestinal tract and/or when inflammation that isassociated with a decrease of contractile activity of thegastrointestinal tract is slowed, stopped, or prevented.

Alzheimer (or Alzheimer's) disease (AD) is the most common cause ofdementia, affecting more than 5 million individuals in the UnitedStates. AD clinical decline and pathological processes occur gradually.Dementia is the end stage of many years of accumulation of pathologicalchanges, which begin to develop decades before the earliest clinicalsymptoms occur. A pre-symptomatic phase occurs first, in whichindividuals are cognitively normal but some have AD pathologicalchanges. This is followed by a second prodromal phase of AD, commonlyreferred to as mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The final phase in theevolution of AD is dementia, defined as impairments that are severeenough to produce loss of function.

Until recently, a definitive diagnosis of AD could only be made at theautopsy or by brain biopsy of an individual, by identifying amyloidplaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) in the association regions ofthe individual's brain, particularly in the medial aspect of thetemporal lobe. Additional evidence of AD from an individual's autopsy orbiopsy would include the presence of the following: the granulovacuolardegeneration of Shimkowicz, the neuropil threads of Braak, and neuronalloss with synaptic degeneration.

Amyloid precursor protein (APP) is a membrane protein that isconcentrated in the synapses of neurons. APP is the precursor moleculewhose proteolysis generates R-amyloid (AR), a peptide whose amyloidfibrillar form is the primary component of amyloid plaques found in thebrains of AD patients.

Tau proteins, which are abundant in the central nervous system,stabilize microtubules. When tau proteins are defective and no longerstabilize microtubules properly, they can produce dementias, includingAD. Defective tau protein will aggregate and twist into neurofibrillarytangles (NFTs), so that the protein is no longer available thestabilization of microtubules. As a result, the neuronal cytoskeletonfalls apart, contributing to neuronal malfunction and cell death.

AD begins when cells abnormally process the amyloid precursor protein(APP), which then leads to excess production or reduced clearance ofR-amyloid (AR) in the cortex. Excess of one or more forms of AR leads toa cascade, characterized by abnormal tau protein aggregation, synapticdysfunction, cell death, and brain shrinkage. The detailed molecularmechanism of tau protein aggregation is unknown, but it is thought thatextracellular deposits of AR in the brains of AD patients promote taupolymerization.

Inflammation and the immune system play a significant role in ADpathogenesis. The inflammatory components in AD include microglia andastrocytes, the complement system, and various inflammatory mediators(including cytokines and chemokines). Microglia are the resident immunecell types of the central nervous system, and in AD, microglia may causedamage by secretion of neurotoxins. When microglia become activatedduring inflammation, they also secrete a variety of inflammatorymediators including cytokines (TNF and interleukins IL-1 R and IL-6) andchemokines (macrophage inflammatory protein MIP-1a, monocytechemoattractant protein MCP-1 and interferon inducible protein IP-10)that promote the inflammatory state.

Microglia accumulate in locations that contain Aβ and are associatedwith the local toxicity of AR plaques. Whether the accumulated microgliacontribute to the removal or deposition of plaque is now thought todepend on the detailed microenvironment of the accumulated microglia.Microglial cell activation and migration toward R-amyloid plaquesprecede the appearance of abnormally shaped neurites and the formationof neurofibrillary tangles. It has been shown that following microglialmigration to the plaques, microglial-derived proinflammatory cytokineTNF-alpha is induced, which in turn induces accumulation of theaggregation-prone tau molecules in neurites via reactive oxygen species.[GORLOVY, P., Larionov, S., Pham, T. T. H., Neumann, H. Accumulation oftau induced in neurites by microglial proinflammatory mediators. FASEBJ. 23, 2502-2513 (2009)]. Elevated levels of TNF also induce anincreased expression of interleukin-1, which in turn increasesproduction of the precursors that may be necessary for formation ofR-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Thus, the secretion ofTNF-alpha by microglia contributes to a cycle wherein tau aggregates toform tangles, β-amyloid plaques are formed, microglia aggregate to thoseplaques, and more TNF-alpha is secreted by microglia cells.

In addition to its proinflammatory functions, TNF-alpha is agliotransmitter that regulates synaptic function in neural networks. Inparticular, TNF-alpha has been shown to mediate the disruption insynaptic memory mechanisms. Etanercept, a biologic antagonist ofTNF-alpha, when delivered by perispinal administration, has been shownto improve the cognitive abilities of AD patients, even within minutesof its administration [Edward L TOBINICK and Hyman Gross. Rapidcognitive improvement in Alzheimer disease following perispinaletanercept administration. Journal of Neuroinflammation 2008, 5:2; W SueT GRIFFIN. Perispinal etanercept: Potential as an Alzheimer therapeutic.Journal of Neuroinflammation 2008, 5:3; Edward TOBINICK. Tumour NecrosisFactor Modulation for Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease Rationale andCurrent Evidence. CNS Drugs 2009; 23 (9): 713-725]. Furthermore, in apopulation of adults with rheumatoid arthritis, CHOU et al. observedthat the risk of AD was significantly reduced by TNF inhibitor therapyfor the rheumatoid arthritis, but not by other disease modifying agentsused for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. It may therefore beconcluded that TNF may be an important component in the pathogenesis ofAD [Richard C. CHOU, Michael A. Kane, Shiva Gautam and Sanjay Ghirmire.Tumor Necrosis Factor Inhibition Reduces the Incidence of Alzheimer'sDisease in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients. Program abstracts of theAmerican College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology HealthProfessionals Scientific Meeting, Nov. 8, 2010, Atlanta Ga.,Presentation No. 640].

With the ability to better stage the progression of AD through use ofbiomarkers, treatment of AD may be justified at stages prior to actualdementia. With a better understanding of the pathogenesis of AD, thosetreatments might be directed to slowing, stopping, or reversing thepathophysiological processes underlying AD.

Biomarkers are cognitive, physiological, biochemical, and anatomicalvariables that can be measured in a patient that indicate theprogression of AD. The most commonly measured biomarkers are decreasedAR42 in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), increased CSF tau, decreasedfluorodeoxyglucose uptake on PET (FDG-PET), PET amyloid imaging, andstructural MRI measures of cerebral atrophy. Biomarkers of AR depositionbecome abnormal early, before neurodegeneration and clinical symptomsoccur. Biomarkers of neuronal injury, dysfunction, and neurodegenerationbecome abnormal later in the disease. Cognitive symptoms are directlyrelated to biomarkers of neurodegeneration, rather than to biomarkers ofAR deposition.

At the present time, other than physical and mental exercise, onlysymptomatic therapies for AD are available. All approved drugs for thesymptomatic treatment of AD modulate neurotransmitters—eitheracetylcholine or glutamate: cholinesterase inhibitors and partialN-methyl-D-aspartate antagonists. Psychotropic medications are also usedto treat secondary symptoms of AD such as depression, agitation, andsleep disorders.

Therapies directed to modifying AD progression itself are consideredinvestigational. These include treatment of the intense inflammationthat occurs in the brains of patients with AD, estrogen therapy, use offree-radical scavengers, therapies designed to decrease toxic amyloidfragments in the brain (vaccination, anti-amyloid antibodies, selectiveamyloid-lowering agents, chelating agents to prevent amyloidpolymerization, brain shunting to improve removal of amyloid, andbeta-secretase inhibitors to prevent generation of the A-beta amyloidfragment), and agents that may prevent or reverse excess tauphosphorylation and thereby diminish formation of neurofibrillarytangles.

However, it is increasingly recognized that a single target orpathogenic pathway for the treatment of AD is unlikely to be identified.The best strategy is a multi-target therapy that includes multiple typesof treatments [Mangialasche F, Solomon A, Winblad B, Mecocci P,Kivipelto M. Alzheimer disease: clinical trials and drug development.Lancet Neurol. 2010 July; 9(7):702-16]. Targets in that multi-targetapproach will include inflammatory pathways, and several therapeuticagents have been proposed to target them—nonsteroidal anti-inflammatorydrugs, statins, RAGE antagonists and antioxidants [Stuchbury G, Munch G.Alzheimer associated inflammation, potential drug targets and futuretherapies. J Neural Transm. 2005 March; 112(3):429-53]. Another suchagent, Etanercept, was mentioned above as targeting TNF-alpha, but itsuse has the disadvantage that because it does not pass the blood-brainbarrier (BBB), its administration is via a painful spinal route or viaan experimental method to get through the BBB [U.S. Pat. No. 7,640,062,entitled Methods and systems for management of alzheimer's disease, toSHALEV]. One TNF-inhibitor that does not have this disadvantage isthalidomide [Tweedie D, Sambamurti K, Greig N H: TNF-alpha Inhibition asa Treatment Strategy for Neurodegenerative Disorders: New DrugCandidates and Targets. Curr Alzheimer Res 2007, 4(4):375-8]. However,thalidomide is well known by the public to cause birth defects, and in asmall trial, its use did not appear to improve cognition in AD patients[Peggy PECK. IADRD: Pilot Study of Thalidomide for Alzheimer's DiseaseFails to Detect Cognitive Benefit but Finds Effect on TNF-alpha.Doctor's Guide Global Edition, Jul. 26, 2002]. There is therefore a needin the art for new therapies that target TNF-alpha, including itsphysiological activity for a given amount, as a component of amulti-target approach to treating AD.

In 2002, it was reported that electrical stimulation of the vagus nervehas a beneficial effect on cognition in patients with AD [Sjogren M J,Hellström P T, Jonsson M A, Runnerstam M, Silander H C, Ben-Menachem E.Cognition-enhancing effect of vagus nerve stimulation in patients withAlzheimer's disease: a pilot study. J Clin Psychiatry. 2002 November;63(11):972-80]. The rationale for the trial was that vagus nervestimulation had previously been found to enhance the cognitive abilitiesof patients that were undergoing vagus nerve stimulation for otherconditions such as epilepsy and depression, as well cognitive abilitiesobserved in animal studies. Results concerning the AD patients' improvedcognitive abilities over a longer period of time, along with improvementin tau protein of cerebrospinal fluid, were subsequently reported[Merrill C A, Jonsson M A, Minthon L, Ejnell H, C-son Silander H,Blennow K, Karlsson M, Nordlund A, Rolstad S, Warkentin S, Ben-MenachemE, Sjogren M J. Vagus nerve stimulation in patients with Alzheimer'sdisease: Additional follow-up results of a pilot study through 1 year. JClin Psychiatry. 2006 August; 67(8):1171-8]. Stimulation of the vagusnerve to treat dementia might be more effective than stimulation ofnerves found in locations such as the spine, forehead, and earlobes[Cameron M H, Lonergan E, Lee H. Transcutaneous Electrical NerveStimulation (TENS) for dementia. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews2003, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD004032. (2009 update)]. The method of usingvagal nerve stimulation to treat AD had been disclosed earlier in U.S.Pat. No. 5,269,303, entitled Treatment of dementia by nerve stimulation,to Wernicke et al., but neither that patent nor the clinical trialsproposed any physiological intermediary through which vagal nervestimulation may result in clinical improvement to AD patients.

It has been proposed that electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve mayattenuate an inflammatory response. In particular, methods involvingelectrical stimulation of the vagus nerve have been disclosed forattenuating or inhibiting the release of the pro-inflammatory cytokineTNF-alpha, including AD as one disease in a long list of diseasesinvolving inflammation [U.S. Pat. No. 6,610,713, entitled Inhibition ofinflammatory cytokine production by cholinergic agonists and vagus nervestimulation, to TRACEY; Kevin J. Tracey. The inflammatory reflex. Nature420: 853-859 (19 Dec. 2002); Kevin J. Tracey. Physiology and immunologyof the cholinergic antiinflammatory pathway. J. Clin. Invest.117:289-296 (2007)]. It has also been proposed that electricalstimulation of nerves of the sympathetic nervous system (particularlythe splenic nerve) may also attenuate an inflammatory response, byattenuating or inhibiting the release of TNF-alpha, including AD as aone disease in a long list of diseases involving inflammation [U.S. Pat.No. 7,769,442, entitled Device and method for inhibiting release ofpro-inflammatory mediator, to SHAFER]. PROLO et al. noted theabove-mention vagal nerve stimulation investigations and predicted thatinterventions based on attenuation of inflammation would be useful forthe treatment of AD [Paolo PROLO, Francesco Chiappelli, Alberto Angeli,Andrea Dovio, Maria Luisa Sartori, Fausto Fanto, Negoita Neagos,Ercolano Manfrini. Putative Neurolmmune Mechanisms in Alzheimer'sDisease: Modulation by Cholinergic Anti-Inflammatory Reflex (CAIR).International Journal of Integrative Biology 2007, Vol 1 (No. 2):88-95].

However, as noted above, TNF-alpha is involved in more than inflammationin AD [Ian A. CLARK, Lisa M. Alleva and Bryce Vissel. The roles of TNFin brain dysfunction and disease. Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 128(Issue 3, December 2010): 519-548]. It is also a gliotransmitter thatregulates synaptic function in neural networks [Gertrudis PEREA andAlfonso Araque. GLIA modulates synaptic transmission. Brain ResearchReviews. 63 (Issues 1-2, May 2010):93-102]. In that capacity, TNF-alphahas been shown to mediate the disruption in synaptic memory mechanisms.Furthermore, none of the above-mentioned citations have proposed thatstimulation of the vagus nerve modulates the capacity of TNF-alpha tofunction as a gliotransmitter, which can be released from any glialcell, including oligodendrocytes, astrocytes, and microglia. Suchmodulation in capacity can be due to a change in the amount of TNF-alphaor in the activity of a given amount of TNF-alpha or in the activity ofthe cells between which TNF-related gliotransmission occurs. In fact,the above-mentioned citations are concerned only with the attenuation orinhibition of the release of TNF-alpha as a pro-inflammatory mediator,but not with its degradation or modification or with changes in itsactivity for a given amount.

Magnetic stimulation of AD patients has been performed, but its use hasbeen intended to affect cognitive skills using transcranial magneticstimulation [Mamede de Carvalho, Alexandre de Mendonga, Pedro C.Miranda, Carlos Garcia and Maria Lourdes Sales Luis. Magneticstimulation in Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Neurology 244 (1997, No.5): 304-307; Cotelli M, Manenti R, Cappa S F, Zanetti O, Miniussi C.Transcranial magnetic stimulation improves naming in Alzheimer diseasepatients at different stages of cognitive decline. Eur J Neurol. 2008December; 15(12):1286-92; Guse B, Falkai P, Wobrock T. Cognitive effectsof high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation: asystematic review. J Neural Transm. 2010 January; 117(1):105-22].Furthermore, as described above, the device disclosed herein is notintended to generate a magnetic field within bodily tissue, so its usewould not be a direct comparison with conventional magnetic stimulation.

Accordingly, a method is disclosed to treat AD patients, preferably aspart of a multi-target therapy, which is to stimulate one or more nervesthat modulate the capacity of TNF-alpha to function as a gliotransmitter(including modulating the activity of the cells between whichTNF-related gliotransmission occurs) and/or that modulate thedegradation of TNF-alpha, and/or modify the activity of existingTNF-alpha molecules as a pro-inflammatory mediator. In the preferredembodiment, the method stimulates the vagus nerve as indicated in FIGS.6 and 7, using the toroidal magnetic stimulation device that isdisclosed herein. The position and angular orientation of the device areadjusted about that location until the patient perceives stimulationwhen current is passed through the stimulator coils. The applied currentis increased gradually, first to a level wherein the patient feelssensation from the stimulation. The power is then increased, but is setto a level that is less than one at which the patient first indicatesany discomfort. Straps, harnesses, or frames are used to maintain thestimulator in position (not shown in FIG. 6 or 7). The stimulator signalmay have a frequency and other parameters that are selected to influencethe therapeutic result. For example, a pulse width may be from about0.01 ms to 500.0 ms, typically 200 ms. The pulses may be delivered at afrequency of 0.5 to 500 Hz., typically 20 Hz. The stimulation may beperformed for 1 to 200 minutes, typically for 30 minutes. Typically, thetreatment is performed repeatedly, e.g., once a week for six months.However, parameters of the stimulation may be varied in order to obtaina beneficial response, as indicated, for example, by the measurement ofTNF-alpha levels and/or activities in the patient's peripheralcirculation and/or in the patient's cerebrospinal fluid, during andsubsequent to each treatment.

Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is a loss in cognitivefunction after surgery. The loss may include memory, the ability tolearn, the ability to concentrate, and/or the ability to reason andcomprehend. POCD does not refer to delirium that may occur immediatelyafter surgery, but instead refers to loss that may persist weeks,months, or permanently after the surgery. The cognitive decline may besubtle, such that psychological testing is needed to detect it, or itmay be profound and obvious.

A limited number of studies have been conducted to evaluate whethercertain demographic populations are at higher risk to suffer from POCD,whether the risk is contingent on the type of surgery, whether the riskdepends on the anesthesia that was used, how the medical condition ofthe patient prior to the surgery influences the risk, whether drugsensitivity is involved, and whether these variables influence theduration of the POCD, its preventability, or its treatability. Elderlypatients are at greatest risk for developing POCD. A low level ofeducation predisposes a risk of POCD. Patients undergoing cardiacsurgery are at greatest risk, especially those with progressiveatherosclerosis. However, major surgery in general poses a greater riskof developing POCD than minor surgery. The incidence of prolonged POCDis apparently similar regardless of the anesthetic technique used ,suggesting that nonanesthetic factors are likely to be important.However, regional anesthesia decreases the incidence of POCD early aftersurgery. [Lars S. RASMUSSEN. Postoperative cognitive dysfunction:Incidence and prevention. Best Practice & Research ClinicalAnaesthesiology 20(2006, No. 2): 315-330; Ola A. SELNES and Guy M.McKhann. Neurocognitive Complications after Coronary Artery BypassSurgery. Ann Neurol 2005; 57:615-621; Ramesh RAMAIAH and Arthur M. Lam.Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction in the Elderly. Anesthesiology Clin27(2009): 485-496; Anne-Mette SAUER, Cornelis Kalkman and Diederik vanDijk. Postoperative cognitive decline. J Anesth (2009) 23:256-259].

The pathophysiology of POCD has been investigated in view of the aboveclinical findings and in the context of cellular responses to surgery ingeneral [Niamh Ni CHOILEAIN and H. Paul Redmond. Cell response tosurgery. Arch Surg 2006; 141:1132-40; XIE G L, Zhang W, Chang Y Z, Chu QJ. Relationship between perioperative inflammatory response andpostoperative cognitive dysfunction in the elderly. Med Hypotheses 2009;73:402-3; HU Z, Ou Y, Duan K, Jiang X. Inflammation: a bridge betweenpostoperative cognitive dysfunction and Alzheimer's disease. MedHypotheses. 2010 April; 74(4):722-4].

Although the cause of POCD appears to be multifactorial, the response ofthe body to the surgery itself appears to be a primary contributingfactor. This is because decreased surgical trauma is associated with adecreased risk of POCD, and the stress of surgery triggers aninflammatory response with release of cytokines that may be responsiblefor changes in brain function and recovery. Furthermore, a correlationhas been observed in patients' interleukin-6, cortisol and latefunctional recovery. Animal experiments also indicate that there is arelation between cytokine-mediated inflammation and POCD [Y WAN, J Xu, DMa, Y Zeng, M Cibelli, M Maze. Postoperative impairment of cognitivefunction in rats: a possible role for cytokine-mediated inflammation inthe hippocampus. Anesthesiology 2007; 106:436-43].

There is currently no generally agreed-upon treatment for POCD. Primaryprevention by providing good oxygenation and cerebral perfusion duringsurgery, and adequate analgesia and emotional support after surgery havebeen suggested, including the use of occupational therapy andbiofeedback. Medical conditions that could also contribute to POCDshould also be treated, such as hypothyroidism. Otherwise, there are fewtreatment options. XIONG et al suggested that transcutaneous stimulationof the vagus nerve may attenuate the inflammatory response that appearsto be associated with POCD. Their suggestion was that the stimulation betranscutaneous because implantation of a vagal nerve stimulator bysurgery may exacerbate the very surgery-induced problem that thestimulation is intended to treat. [XIONG J, Xue F S, Liu J H, Xu Y C,Liao X, Zhang Y M, Wang W L, Li S. Transcutaneous vagus nervestimulation may attenuate postoperative cognitive dysfunction in elderlypatients. Medical Hypotheses 73 (2009) 938-941].

However, the site of transcutaneous vagal stimulation that XIONG et alsuggest is the external auditory canal. This may not be as effective asstimulating at the site where vagus nerve stimulators are ordinarilyimplanted, namely in the neck. Furthermore, XIONG et al do not suggeststimulation parameters that should be used. Accordingly, a method isdisclosed here to better treat POCD patients. In the preferredembodiment, the method stimulates the vagus nerve in the neck asindicated in FIGS. 6 and 7, using the toroidal magnetic stimulationdevice that is disclosed herein. The position and angular orientation ofthe device are adjusted about that location until the patient perceivesstimulation when current is passed through the stimulator coils. Theapplied current is increased gradually, first to a level wherein thepatient feels sensation from the stimulation. The power is thenincreased, but is set to a level that is less than one at which thepatient first indicates any discomfort. Straps, harnesses, or frames areused to maintain the stimulator in position (not shown in FIG. 6 or 7).The stimulator signal may have a frequency and other parameters that areselected to influence the therapeutic result. For example, a pulse widthmay be from about 0.01 ms to 500.0 ms, typically 200 ms. The pulses maybe delivered at a frequency of 0.5 to 500 Hz., typically 20 Hz. Thestimulation may be performed for 1 to 200 minutes, typically for 30minutes. Typically, the treatment is performed repeatedly, e.g., once aweek for six months. However, parameters of the stimulation may bevaried in order to obtain a beneficial response, as indicated, forexample, by the measurement of cytokines in the patient's peripheralcirculation and/or in the patient's cerebrospinal fluid, or bypsychological evaluation of the extent of the patient's cognitivedysfunction.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disorder thatprimarily attacks the synovial membrane that lines joints and tendonsheaths. Joints in the hands, feet and spine are most often affected,but larger joints such as those in the shoulder and knee can also beaffected. RA may also affect the skin, lungs, kidneys, blood cells andvessels, nervous system, liver, eyes, and bone. If not treated, it canbe a very painful condition, resulting in a loss of functioning andmobility. 2.5 million Americans suffer from RA, with women being threetimes more likely to experience RA than men. Its onset is often betweenthe ages of 40 to 50, but it can occur at any age. As RA progresses,inflammation causes tendon tethering and destruction of the jointsurface, which limits movement and leads to deformity of the joints.

Although the cause of RA is unknown, autoimmunity plays a primary rolein its onset and progression. Joint stiffness early in the morning is aprominent feature of RA, which typically lasts for more than an hour andmay be relieved by movement. In contrast, pain due to other forms ofarthritis, such as osteoarthritis, is less prominent in the morning, andmovement may increase the pain. When RA is suspected clinically,immunological tests are performed for the presence of rheumatoid factorand anti-citrullinated protein antibodies. Other tests may be performedto rule out other causes or mimics of arthritis, such as lupuserythematosus, hemochromatosis, gout, Lyme disease, Reiter's disease,ankylosing spondylitis, Hepatitis C, sarcoidosis, amyloidosis, Whipple'sdisease, rheumatic fever or other bacterial causes of arthritis, orStill's disease.

In addition to the presence of rheumatoid factors and antibodies tocitrullinated peptides, evidence for the presence and progression of RAincludes a patient history of cigarette smoking, a genetic link withHLA-DR4 and related allotypes of MHC Class II and the T cell-associatedprotein PTPN22, a random pattern of bodily sites where and whenindividuals are affected by arthritis (as distinguished from arthritisoccurring at sites where and when joints have worn from chronic use),disease progression that is significantly inhibited by blockade of thecytokine TNF-alpha, and disease progression that is inhibited bydepletion of B lymphocytes without inhibition by depletion of Tlymphocytes. The latter evidence suggests that abnormal B cell—T cellinteraction plays a significant role in the pathophysiology of RA,wherein inflammation is driven either by B cell or T cell productsstimulating release of TNF-alpha and other cytokines [Marc FeldmannFELDMANN and Ravinder N. MAINI. Role of cytokines in rheumatoidarthritis: an education in pathophysiology and therapeutics.Immunological Reviews 223 (Issue 1, June 2008):7-19; lain B. McINNES andGeorg Schett. Cytokines in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis.Nature Reviews Immunology 7(June 2007):429-442].

Treatment of RA includes the use of non-pharmacological therapy(physical therapy including rest and exercise, orthoses, occupationaltherapy and nutritional therapy), the use of analgesia andanti-inflammatory drugs to suppress the symptoms, and disease-modifyingantirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) that are used to inhibit the underlyingimmune process. The DMARDs are most relevant here, because the treatmentmethod that is disclosed below is also intended to inhibit theunderlying immune process. The DMARDs are often used in combination andinclude methotrexate, hydroxychloroquine, sulfasalazine, minocycline,leflunomide, cyclosporine, and azathioprine. The DMARDs also includebiologic drugs such as TNF-alpha blockers (etanercept, infliximab,adalimumab, certolizumab pegol, and golimumab), Interleukin 1 blockers(anakinra), monoclonal antibodies against B cells (rituximab), T cellcostimulator blockers (abatacept), and Interleukin 6 blockers(tocilizumab).

DMARDs often have significant side effects, including nausea, vomiting,or diarrhea. They also cause liver problems and raise the risk ofinfection. They may cause white blood cell counts to decrease, and causeloss of red blood cells that may result in anemia. Accordingly, there isa need for effective disease-modifying treatments for RA that do notproduce such side effects.

As described above in connection with the treatment of dysfunctionassociated with TNF-alpha in Alzheimer disease, electrical stimulationof the vagus nerve may produce a similar anti-inflammatory effect, forexample, as a TNF-alpha blocker. In fact, VAN MAANEN et al suggest thatthe inflammation associated with RA might be treated by electricalstimulation of the vagus nerve. [Marjolein A. VAN MAANEN, Margriet J.Vervoordeldonk and Paul P. Tak. The cholinergic anti-inflammatorypathway: towards innovative treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. NatureReviews Rheumatology 5(April 2009): 229-232]. They comment as follows:“A novel anti-inflammatory strategy could be developed by means ofoptimal VNS (vagal nerve stimulation) generated by a special device. Nostudies of VNS in RA have been published so far, but one case—controlstudy has shown that the risk of developing RA is not increased aftervagotomy”. Such stimulation had been suggested earlier, for example, inpatent application No. US20060178703, entitled Treating inflammatorydisorders by electrical vagus nerve stimulation, to HUSTON et al, whichlists rheumatoid arthritis in a long list of diseases that may betreated by electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve. However, theydescribe the method in terms of stimulation using electrodes, notstimulation with a magnetic stimulator.

An impediment to the treatment of RA by vagal nerve stimulation is thatthe stimulators are ordinarily implanted surgically. Consequently,patients may be reluctant to undergo surgery in order to treatinflammation that can be treated pharmacologically. Therefore, a methodis disclosed here to treat RA non-invasively. In the preferredembodiment, the method stimulates the vagus nerve in the neck asindicated in FIGS. 6 and 7, using the toroidal magnetic stimulationdevice that is disclosed herein. The position and angular orientation ofthe device are adjusted about that location until the patient perceivesstimulation when current is passed through the stimulator coils. Theapplied current is increased gradually, first to a level wherein thepatient feels sensation from the stimulation. The power is thenincreased, but is set to a level that is less than one at which thepatient first indicates any discomfort. Straps, harnesses, or frames areused to maintain the stimulator in position (not shown in FIG. 6 or 7).The stimulator signal may have a frequency and other parameters that areselected to influence the therapeutic result. For example, a pulse widthmay be from about 0.01 ms to 500.0 ms, typically 200 ms. The pulses maybe delivered at a frequency of 0.5 to 500 Hz., typically 20 Hz. Thestimulation may be performed for 1 to 200 minutes, typically for 30minutes. Typically, the treatment is performed repeatedly, e.g., once aweek for six months. However, parameters of the stimulation may bevaried in order to obtain a beneficial response, as indicated, forexample, by the measurement of cytokines in the patient's peripheralcirculation, by mechanical tests that evaluate the patient's mobility,or by radiological examination of the patient's joints.

Another example of diseases that may be treated with the disclosedmagnetic stimulator device is those diseases involving excessiveconstriction of bronchi in the lungs. They include asthma, anaphylacticshock, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Asthma affects anestimated eight to thirteen million adults and children in the UnitedStates. Anaphylaxis ranks among the airway occluding disorders as themost deadly, claiming many deaths in the United States every year.Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause ofdisability, and is the fourth leading cause of death in the UnitedStates.

Applicant has made the unexpected discovery that stimulating a region ofa patient's neck near the vagus nerve within a particular frequencyrange results in almost immediate and significant improvement inbronchodilation to counteract the bronchoconstriction. Applicant hasfurther discovered that applying electrical impulses outside of theselected frequency range (15 Hz to 50 Hz) does not result in significantimprovement. By way of example, at least one induced electrical signalmay be of a frequency between about 15 Hz to 35 Hz. By way of example,at least one induced electrical signal may have a pulsed on-time ofbetween about 50 to 1000 microseconds, such as between about 100 to 300microseconds, or about 200 microseconds.

Details of such treatment of bronchoconstriction associated with asthma,anaphylaxis, and COPD, including treatment using a toroidal magneticstimulation device, are disclosed in applicant's co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/859,568 filed Aug. 19, 2010 entitledNon-invasive treatment of bronchial constriction, to SIMON, which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

The storage and voiding of urine are performed by the urinary bladderand urethra, which are muscular structures controlled by the sacralnerve. The urinary tract has two phases of activity: the storage phase,when urine is stored in the bladder, and the voiding phase, when urineis released through the urethra. During the storage phase, the muscularsphincter of the urethra contracts (blocking flow of urine), and thedetrusor muscle of the bladder is relaxed. During the voiding phase, thereverse happens—the sphincter of the urethra relaxes (permitting flow ofurine), and the detrussor muscle of the bladder contracts to force urineinto the urethra. Nerve signals from stretch receptors in the bladderwall are sent to the pontine micturition center in the brainstem and tothe cerebrum where voluntary actions are initiated. When the bladderfills and the bladder's stretch receptors are actively signaling thatfilled state, the conscious urge to urinate becomes difficult to ignore.Once the voluntary nerve signal to begin urination has been issued, thatsignal causes the smooth muscle of the bladder to contract and theurethral sphincter muscle to relax. The flow of urine through theurethra is then sensed by its receptors, and they send nerve signalswhich help sustain urination until the bladder is empty.

Individuals with an overactive bladder exhibit a sudden urge to urinateand a high frequency of urination, especially at night (nocturia). Theyoften, but not always, also exhibit urge incontinence, which is leakageof urine due to bladder muscles that contract or spasm inappropriately.Often these contractions occur regardless of the amount of urine that isin the bladder. Urge incontinence may result from bladder outletobstruction from an enlarged prostate, inflammation or infection, orneurological disorders. However, in most cases of urge incontinence, nospecific cause can be identified.

Management options for overactive bladder include lifestyle adjustments,bladder retraining, pelvic floor exercises, biofeedback, andpharmacotherapy (e.g., anticholinergic antimuscarinic medications, suchas oxybutynin, tolterodine, trospium chloride, derifenacin, solifenacin,and fesoterodine fumarate; as well as botox and capsaicin). Side effectsand urinary retention occur in approximately 20% of those who use thesemedications. Major surgical procedures (e.g., bladder augmentation,Burch colposuspension and the pubovaginal sling) are considered lastresorts, as they potentially lead to serious side effects.

If pharmacotherapy is unsuccessful and surgery is not being considered,patients with an overactive bladder are often treated by spinal nerveneuromodulation. Humans have 31 left-right pairs of spinal nerves, eachroughly corresponding to a segment of the vertebral column: 8 cervicalspinal nerve pairs (C1-C8), 12 thoracic pairs (T1-T12), 5 lumbar pairs(L1-L5), 5 sacral pairs (S1-S5) and 1 coccygeal pair. Sacral nervemodulation was developed based on the observation that the S2-S4 nerveroots provide the primary innervation to the bladder and urethra.

With sacral nerve modulation, patients first undergo a screening withpercutaneous nerve evaluation, in which a temporary wire electrode isinserted in the S3 foramen. Patients who show a 50% or greaterimprovement in one or more urine voiding parameters after 3-7 days ofelectrode stimulation are offered a permanent implant. The permanentelectrode is then implanted as follows. A midline sacral incision ismade, the paravertebral muscles are separated, and an insulatedelectrode is placed in the S3 sacral foramen. Another incision is madeover the upper buttock, creating a pocket in which the neurostimulatoris placed. The electrode and stimulator are connected with leads, theincisions are closed, and after a week, the stimulator is programmed fortherapeutic use. The procedure is expensive, and problems arise in up toa third of the patients, including change in bowel function, infection,lead movement, pain at implant sites, and/or unpleasant stimulation orsensation. The mechanism for sacral neuromodulation is unknown, but isprobably multifactorial and impacts the neuroaxis at several differentlevels.

Percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation (PTNS) offers a safer, lessinvasive treatment alternative for overactive bladder than sacral nerveneuromodulation. Rather than requiring an incision and placement ofelectrodes in the sacrum, PTNS utilizes the nerve root S3 but at alocation much closer to the surface of the skin, at the tibial nerveslightly above the ankle. The rationale is that the tibial nerve, abranch of the sciatic nerve, is derived from spinal nerves L4 throughS3. Direct electrical stimulation of the tibial nerve was first reportedby McGuire and colleagues in 1983, but its use for treating bladder andincontinence problems was developed by Stoller beginning in 1987 [GovierF E, Litwiller S, Nitti V, Kreder K J Jr, Rosenblatt P. Percutaneousafferent neuromodulation for the refractory overactive bladder: resultsof a multicenter study. J Urol. 2001 April; 165(4):1193-8].

To perform PTNS, a sensitive pressure point is identified approximately3 finger breadths cephalad from the medial malleolus and about 1 fingerbreadth posterior from the edge of the tibia. A needle is insertedthrough the skin approximately 3 to 4 cm posterior to the tibia. Theangle of the needle is 60 degrees cephalad from a perpendicular linealong the length of the tibia. A ground pad is placed over the medialaspect of the calcaneus. A stimulator is then connected to the needleand the ground pad. A current 0.5-9 mA at 20 Hz provides stimulation.Each treatment session lasts 30 minutes, and the sessions are conductedweekly. After 12 months, statistically significant improvements comparedwith baseline are seen for frequency (2.8 fewer voids daily), urgeincontinence (1.6 fewer episodes daily), nocturia (0.8 fewer void pernight), and voided volume (39 more mL per void) and on subjectivequestionnaires. [Govier F E, Litwiller S, Nitti V, Kreder K J Jr,Rosenblatt P. Percutaneous afferent neuromodulation for the refractoryoveractive bladder: results of a multicenter study. J Urol. 2001 April;165(4):1193-8; MacDiarmid S A, Peters K M, Shobeiri A, et al. Long-termDurability of Percutaneous Tibial Nerve Stimulation for the Treatment ofOveractive Bladder. J Urol. 2010; 183:234-240; van Balken M R, VergunstH, Bemelmans B L. The use of electrical devices for the treatment ofbladder dysfunction: a review of methods. J Urol. 2004 September;172(3):846-51; Finazzi-Agro E, Petta F, Sciobica F, Pasqualetti P, MuscoS, Bove P. Percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation effects on detrusoroveractivity incontinence are not due to a placebo effect: a randomized,double-blind, placebo controlled trial. J Urol. 2010 November;184(5):2001-6].

Conventional magnetic stimulation has been used previously to treaturinary incontinence and overactive bladder, but those investigationsdid not involve stimulation of the tibial nerve near the ankle as inPTNS [Galloway N T, El-Galley R E, Sand P K, Appell R A, Russell H W,Carlin S J. Extracorporeal magnetic innervation therapy for stressurinary incontinence. Urology 1999; 53: 1108-11; Fujishiro T, TakahashiS, Enomoto H, Ugawa Y, Ueno S, Kitamura T. Magnetic stimulation of thesacral roots for the treatment of urinary frequency and urgeincontinence: an investigational study and placebo controlled trial. JUrol. 2002 September; 168(3):1036-9; Takahashi S and Kitamura T.Overactive bladder: magnetic versus electrical stimulation. CurrentOpinion in Obstetrics & Gynecology 2003, 15(5):429-33; But I.Conservative treatment of female urinary incontinence with functionalmagnetic stimulation. Urology. 2003 March; 61(3):558-61.; Gilling P J,Wilson L C, Westenberg A M, McAllister W J, Kennett K M, Frampton C M,et al. A double-blind randomized controlled trial of electromagneticstimulation of the pelvic floor vs sham therapy in the treatment ofwomen with stress urinary incontinence. BJU International 103 (Issue 10,May 2009): 1386-1390; Nobuyuki KAI, Masakazu KAWAJIRI, Narihito SEKI,Naruaki TAKANO, Jun-ichi KIRA, Shozo TOBIMATSU, and Seiji NAITO.Efficacy of High-frequency Magnetic Stimulation of the Sacral Root inPatients with Urinary Incontinence Following a Radical Prostatectomy.LUTS (2010) DOI: 10.1111/j.1757-5672.2010.00062.x, pp. 1-5].

The method and devices disclosed in the following patents deal withincontinence but are not adapted to the PTNS method described above:U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,854 Method for treating urinary incontinence and anapparatus therefor, to Ishikawa; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,086,525 Magneticnerve stimulator for exciting peripheral nerves to Davey et al. A familyof applications related to patent application US20100222629 Method andapparatus for magnetic induction therapy, to BURNETT et al uses anunconventional adjustable coil that neither passes high current throughthe coil nor uses a core to increase the stimulus. It appears not to bedesigned to stimulate the tibial nerve as deeply or as powerfully as thedevice disclosed herein. Furthermore, as described above, the devicedisclosed herein is not intended to generate a magnetic field withinbodily tissue.

A therapeutic application of the disclosed toroidal magnetic stimulationdevice is to treat urinary incontinence and/or overactive bladder bystimulating the tibial nerve at or near a location at which PTNS isperformed. It is non-invasive and eliminates any pain associated withrepeated needle-puncture. In fact, it produces minimal pain, if any.Furthermore, training to perform the procedure with the disclosedtoroidal magnetic stimulator is minimal, in contrast to PTNS, whichrequires significant training in order to insert a needle in a safemanner.

Treatment with the disclosed stimulator at a suitable location isillustrated in FIG. 8. The method stimulates the tibial nerve 80, whichruns down the leg and into the foot as indicated. To perform thestimulation, the toroidal magnetic stimulation device of the presentinvention 30 is positioned approximately 3 finger breadths cephalad fromthe protruding medial malleolus 81 and about 1 finger breadth posteriorfrom the edge of the tibia 82. It is understood that the device 30 isconnected via wires or cables (not shown) to an impulse generator 310 asin FIG. 1. Conducting medium (e.g., conducting gel) is dispensed to thepatient's skin as described above (e.g., 29 in FIG. 7). The position andangular orientation of the device are then adjusted about that locationuntil the patient perceives stimulation when current is passed throughthe coils. The applied current is increased gradually, first to a levelwherein the patient feels sensation anywhere there is innervation of thetibial nerve, as indicated for example by flexing of the big toe and/orfanning or plantar toe flexion of ipsilateral digits 2 through 5. Thepower is then increased, but is set to a level that is less than one atwhich the patient first indicates any discomfort. Straps, harnesses, orframes are used to maintain the stimulator in position (not shown inFIG. 8). The stimulation is then performed typically with a fixed pulsewidth of 200 microseconds at a frequency of 20 Hz for 30 minutes.Typically, the treatment is performed once a week for 12 weeks.Treatment may be performed near either or both ankles. However,parameters of the stimulation may be varied in order to obtain abeneficial response, as indicated for example, by the patientexperiencing on average fewer daily urinary voids, and/or fewer dailyepisodes of urge incontinence, and/or fewer urinary voids per night,and/or increased urinary volumes per void, and/or improved patientemotional well-being.

The sphincter of Oddi (SO), located at the junction of the bile andpancreatic ducts with the duodenum (small intestine), comprises a ringof smooth muscle that is controlled by the autonomic nervous system andother factors. The primary functions of the SO are to relax to allow thedelivery of bile (produced in the liver; stored in the gallbladder) andpancreatic juice into the duodenum, and to contract (constrict) toprevent the reflux of duodenal contents into the biliary and pancreaticsystems.

The SO exhibits a basal level of muscular contraction, upon which issuperimposed spontaneous phasic contractions and relaxations thatresemble peristalsis. Contraction and relaxation of the SO is controlledby the autonomic nervous system via the anterior and posterior hepaticplexuses, consisting of postganglionic fibers from the coeliac ganglion,and preganglionic para-sympathetic fibers from the left and right vagusnerves. Neuronal reflexes connecting the SO with the stomach, duodenum,and gallbladder coordinate the activity of these organs. Bioactivechemicals (e.g. from food) and inflammation also modulate contraction ofthe SO.

Disordered motility of the SO is associated with the most commonfunctional disorders of the biliary tract and pancreas. In thesedisorders, the SO exhibits muscular spasms or is abnormally constricted,often due to hypertensive smooth muscle contraction. As a consequence,pressures within the bile and pancreatic ducts also become abnormal, andthe flow of material within the ducts may become obstructed.

Patients who present with biliary SO dysfunction typically experiencesevere, recurrent biliary type pain, often 4-5 years after removal ofthe gallbladder (cholecystectomy), and are mostly female. Pancreatic SOdysfunction presents as recurrent episodes of pancreatitis without anobvious cause.

Other than symptomatic treatment, there is no established medicaltherapy for patients suffering SO dysfunction. To date, the mosteffective form of therapy for SO dysfunction is endoscopicsphincterotomy. However, in a significant number of sphincterotomycases, the patient's pain recurs or other complications arise [Cotton PB, Lehman G, Vennes J, Geenen J E, Russell R C, Meyers W C, et al.Endoscopic sphincterotomy complications and their management.Gastrointest Endosc 1991; 37:383-93].

GUELRUD et al. demonstrated that transcutaneous electrical nervestimulation (TENS) used in patients with sphincter of Oddi dysfunctiondecreased basal sphincter pressure, although not to normal values[Guelrud M, Rossiter A, Souney P F, Mendoza S, Mujica V. The effect oftranscutaneous nerve stimulation on sphincter of Oddi pressure inpatients with biliar dyskinesia. Am J Gastroenterol 1991; 86:581-585].The negative electrode was placed on the dorsal web between the firstand second metacarpal bones, and a positive electrode was placed at theulnar border of the same hand. Pulses of 0.1 ms duration at 6 Hz and10-20 mA current were delivered until rhythmic flexion of the fingerscould be performed without producing pain. Stimulation was performed for45 minutes.

BLAUT et al. extended that investigation by showing that TENS alsodecreases intraductal biliary pressure, which may underly the painassociated with SO dysfunction [Urszula BLAUT, Jerzy Marecik, ArturHartwich, Roman M. Herman, Janusz Laskiewicz and Piotr J. Thor. Theeffect of transcutaneous nerve stimulation on intraductal biliarypressure in post cholecystectomy patients with T-drainage. Eur JGastroenterol Hepatol (2003) 15:21-26]. The negative electrode wasplaced on the ulnar edge of the forearm in the proximal one-third of itslength, and the positive electrode was placed on the abdomen in thepoint indicated by crossing the rectus abdominis muscle and costalmargin. Stimulation was performed with the following parameters: 2bursts/s, 7 pulses/burst, 100 Hz intraburst rate, 230 microsecond pulsewidth. The wave form of an isolated pulse was balanced rectangularly(zero net DC component) and the pulse amplitude was 10-30 mA, dependingon the subject's sensitivity. The amplitude was increased until thepatient reported a light ‘tingling’ at the sites of electrode placement.Each session lasted 15 min.

These investigators did not identify any particular nerve as being thetarget of stimulation. In another investigation, LEE et al usedelectroacupuncture to stimulate acupoint GB34 to achieve relaxation ofthe SO that reversed immediately upon cessation of stimulation.[Sung-Koo Lee, Myung-Hwan Kim, Hong-Ja Kim, Dong-Wan Seo, Kyo-Sang Yoo,Yun-Ho Joo, Young-II Min, Ji-Hoon Kim, Byung-Il Min. Electroacupuncturemay relax the sphincter of Oddi in humans. Gastrointestinal Endoscopy53, (No. 2, 2001): 211-216.] That acupuncture point is located below thelateral aspect of the knee, in the tender depression approximately 1 cmanterior and inferior to the head of the fibula. However, because theystimulated only an acupoint, they too did not identify any particularnerve as being the target of stimulation.

In investigations involving anesthatized rabbits and cats, CHIU et al.stimulated spinal nerves in the 6th and 7th intercostal space in theright midclavicular line. The effect was to only indirectly increase SOcontractile activity in rabbits but decrease the SO activity in cats,through increased secretion of cholecystokinin [Chiu J H, Kuo Y L, Lui WY, Wu C W, Hong C Y. Somatic electrical nerve stimulation regulates themotility of sphincter of Oddi in rabbits and cats: evidence for asomatovisceral reflex mediated by cholecystokinin. Dig Dis Sci. 1999September; 44(9):1759-67].

In patent application US20080195171, entitled Method and Apparatus forElectrical Stimulation of the Pancreatico-Biliary System, to SHARMA,stimulation of sympathetic autonomic nerves innervating thepancreaticobiliary system is disclosed as an indirect way of preventingor treating sphihcter of Oddi dysfunction, through the lowering ofpancreaticobiliary ductal pressures. Patent application US20090192557,entitled Methods and systems of treating pancreatitis pain caused bysphincter of Oddi dysfunction, to WHITEHURST et al discloses methods oftreatment using an implanted stimulator. In U.S. Pat. No. 7,720,540,entitled Pancreatitis treatment KNUDSON et al, methods are disclosed totreat pancreatitis, but mention is not made of treating the sphincter ofOddi specifically.

Patent application US20070106338, entitled Direct and Indirect Controlof Muscle for the Treatment of Pathologies to ERRICO disclosestreatments that more generally apply a the signal to the nerves thatinnervate or modulate function of the Sphincter of Oddi. In patentapplication US20100249873, entitled Direct and Indirect Control ofMuscle for the Treatment of Pathologies, to ERRICO, the sphincter ofOddi may be stimulated by direct application of electrical stimulationto the smooth muscles of the sphincter, or by modulation of the signalsapplied to the sphincter through the hepatic plexus. That disclosurecontemplates applying an electrical stimulation signal to at least onenerve fiber, such that relaxation of at least one smooth muscle of apatient's sphincter of Oddi is affected and reduced bile pressure in thepatient's biliary duct is affected. This may be achieved by applying thestimulatory signal to nerves emanating from a patient's sympatheticnerve chain. Alternatively, this may be achieved by applying thestimulation to nerve fibers emanating from the patient's tenth cranialnerve. That disclosure indicates that it is preferable that thestimulation be applied to the nerve plexus of fibers emanating from boththe sympathetic nerve chain and the tenth cranial nerve (the vagusnerve), and this is most preferably the hepatic plexus.

A family of applications related to patent application US20100222629,entitled Method and apparatus for magnetic induction therapy, to BURNETTet al mentions treatment of sphincter of Oddi disorder among a long listof diseases. That application discloses an unconventional adjustablecoil that neither passes high current through the coil nor uses a coreto increase the stimulus. It is therefore not designed to stimulatenerves or tissue as deeply or as powerfully as the device disclosedherein. Furthermore, as described above, the device disclosed herein isnot intended to generate a magnetic field within bodily tissue, so useof the present invention would function differently than the onedisclosed by BURNETT et al.

A therapeutic application of the disclosed toroidal magnetic stimulationdevice is to treat Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction. This comprisesstimulation with the device at or near any of the nerve or tissuestructures that were described in the publications or patentapplications that were cited above.

Treatment of Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction using the disclosed toroidalmagnetic stimulator is illustrated in FIG. 9, which shows itspositioning at one suitable anatomical location. Other locations arealso possible, and more than one stimulation device may be usedsimultaneously, for example, at the location indicated in FIG. 9 andalso at the vagus nerve location indcated in FIG. 6. Referring to FIG.9, the toroidal magnetic stimulation device of the present invention 30is initially positioned under the ribs and over the liver 90 asindicated. It is understood that the device 30 is connected via wires orcables (not shown) to an impulse generator 310 as in FIG. 1. Conductingmedium (e.g., conducting gel) is dispensed to the patient's skin asdescribed above (e.g., 29 in FIG. 7). The position and angularorientation of the device are then adjusted about that location untilthe patient perceives stimulation when current is passed through thestimulator coils. The applied current is increased gradually, first to alevel wherein the patient feels sensation from the stimulation. Thepower is then increased, but is set to a level that is less than one atwhich the patient first indicates any discomfort. Straps, harnesses, orframes are used to maintain the stimulator in position (not shown inFIG. 9). The stimulator signal may have a frequency and other parametersthat are selected to influence the therapeutic result. For example, apulse width may be from about 0.01 ms to 500.0 ms, typically 200 ms. Thepulses may be delivered at a frequency of 0.5 to 500 Hz, typically 20Hz. The stimulation may be performed for 1 to 200 minutes, typically for30 minutes. Typically, the treatment is performed once as needed but mayalso be performed repeatedly, e.g., once a week for 12 weeks. However,parameters of the stimulation may be varied in order to obtain abeneficial response, as indicated, for example, by testimony from thepatient concerning the experience of pain attributable to Sphincter ofOddi dysfunction, during and subsequent to each treatment. Thestimulation parameters may also be adjusted to cause the patient toexperience decreased basal sphincter of Oddi pressure, and/or decreasedsphincter of Oddi muscular spasms, and/or decreased pressures within thebile and/or pancreatic ducts, and/or increased flow of material withinthe bile and/or pancreatic ducts, and/or decreased biliary-type pain,and/or decreased episodes of pancreatitis.

For applications in which it is necessary to position the stimulatoraccurately, for example, to stimulate precisely the same anatomicallocation on multiple occasions, a method may be employed to position thestimulator to the desired location. This may be accomplished using amethod now disclosed, which is illustrated by the example shown in FIG.10. The example relates to stimulation of the brain (transcranialstimulation), but the method may be adapted to other anatomicallocations by using holders that are configured to correspond to theanatomical geometry of the other locations.

The disclosed method is motivated by the observation that thelow-current stimulator disclosed herein is compact, light-weight, andmay be used over an extended period of time without concern forover-heating or for significant discomfort to the patient (unlike highcurrent magnetic stimulators). The principle underlying the positioningmethod is that the stimulator produces eddy currents, i.e., inducedcurrents that flow in closed paths in the absence of an anode andcathode. The method also relies on the observation that the magnitude ofthose currents is a function of the conductance of the biologicalmaterial that is being stimulated.

Electrical impedance is the total opposition that a circuit (in thiscase, the stimulator coil(s), including the conducting material withwhich it is in contact) presents to alternating current. Impedance ismeasured in ohms and may include resistance, inductive reactance, andcapacitive reactance. Vectors are used to specify total impedance,separating the resistance and reactance components. Because thebiological material that is being stimulated contributes to theelectrical impedance of the coil that is being used to induce the eddycurrents, variations in electrical conductivity of the tissue beingstimulated will result in corresponding variations of impedance, whenthe impedance of the stimulating coil is measured as it is applied tothe body. Such impedance measurements may be made by devices that arecommercially available, e.g., Agilent 4294A Precision Impedance Analyzer[Agilent Impedance Measurement Handbook. A guide to measurementtechnology and techniques 4th Edition, Agilent Technologies, Inc., 5301Stevens Creek Blvd Santa Clara Calif. 95051].

By scanning the disclosed stimulator coil over the surface of the bodyin a raster pattern and measuring the impedance of the stimulating coilat each position throughout the scan, an image of the impedance of thecircuit as a function of body position may be constructed. The principleis similar to that employed in the non-destructive testing of pipes,welds, and the like, wherein a coil is scanned over the surface of aconducting piece of metal [R. O. McCARY, D. W. Oliver, K. H.Silverstein, and D. J. Young. Eddy Current Imaging. IEEE Transactions onMagnetics MAG-20 (No. 5, September 1984): 1986-1988]. However, suchnon-destructive testing methods of imaging have not heretofore beenapplied to the imaging of biological tissue. Images may be made of thevector components of the impedance separately and/or of the magnitude ofthe impedance. If some region of the image corresponds to underlyingtissue that has diminished electrical conductance (e.g., scar tissue,which may be an epileptic focus, or tissue in the vicinity of a bloodclot), then the presence of that tissue will appear in the image as aregion of unusual impedance. Because electrical impedance is a functionof the frequency of alternating current through the coil, such imagesmay be constructed for multiple or swept frequencies, and mixtures ofsuch images may be used to better discriminate the biological structuresthat are being imaged. As an alternative to sweeping frequencies, avoltage pulse may be applied to the coil, and the Fourier components ofits current response may be measured. In practice, measurement ofchanges of impedance (a spatial derivative of actual impedance) maygenerally best discriminate the biological structures, because thechanges of impedance from one position in a scan to another may be smallrelative to total impedance and because position is the only variablethat is being deliberately varied during the course of the scan. Suchsmall impedance changes may be measured with bridge circuits that arenulled continuously throughout the scan. Furthermore, when the impedancechanges are so small that they would be obscured by noise, the dwelltime of measurement at individual locations in the raster may beincreased, such that the measurement at each location is effectively anaverage of multiple measurements.

It is understood that other methods of imaging using the magneticstimulator coil are also possible. For example, the coil may be used toactually electrically stimulate the tissue over a raster of locations,and currents induced in tissue by the stimulation may be measuredthrough electrodes at fixed locations on the surface of the patient nearthe location of the raster of stimulations.

As an example, the scanning may be performed as shown in FIG. 10. Aframe 101 similar to the base of a stereotaxic frame is rigidly attachedto the head of the patient. An XY mechanical scanning stage is rigidlyattached to the top of the frame. The XY scanning stage comprises twoparts: a lower part 102 that is rigidly fixed to the frame 101 and anupper part 103 that can move independently in two directions relative tothe lower part of the stage (front-to-back and side-to-side). Thestimulator coil 30 is rigidly attached to the upper part of the XYscanning stage 103, with front-to-back axis attachment 104 and theside-to-side axis attachment 105. Thus, as the XY mechanical stage movesin the XY plane, the stimulator coil will move by the same distance inboth the front-to-back and side-to-side directions.

It is understood that the scanning stage (102 plus 103) and stimulatorcoil 30 shown in FIG. 10 are connected via wires or cables to thecircuits that respectively control motion of the stage and measureelectrical impedance. The circuits that measure electrical impedance maybe part of the impulse generator 310 in FIG. 1, or they may be dedicatedcircuits that communicate via wires, cables, or wireless technology tothe device 300 in FIG. 1. The circuits that control movement of thestage may also be dedicated circuits that communicate via wires, cables,or wireless technology to the device 300 in FIG. 1, particularly itscontrol unit 330, allowing that control unit to move the XY stage in araster and acquire impedance measurements for each point in the raster.

The stimulator coil is also connected electrically to the scalp of thepatient 100 through conducting material (e.g., conducting gel) aspreviously described (e.g., 29 in FIG. 7). If the area to be scanned isrelatively small and the surface of the patient is flat over that area,the configuration shown in FIG. 10 may be used to perform the scan.However, if the scalp surface to be scanned exhibits significantcurvature, the XY stage may be replaced by an XYZ stage that lifts andlowers the stimulator coil to accommodate the curvature. If the scalpsurface to be scanned exhibits very significant curvature, the XY or XYZstage may be replaced by a XYZ/tip/tilt stage or a hexapod positioningsystem, controlling motion with up to six degrees of freedom. All thesetypes of positioning devices, along with their controllers, arecommercially available [Publications “Nanopositioning/Piezoelectrics”and “Micropositioning”. PI (Physik Instrumente) L.P., 16 Albert St.,Auburn, Mass. 01501].

Constructing an image by the method disclosed above provides informationabout the electrical properties of the tissue underlying the scanningcoil. If the structures are of the same order of magnitude in size asthe head of the coil, then it might be possible to discern from theimage what the biological structure is. Otherwise, inference ofstructure from the images may require processing of the images bymethods that solve inverse-problems, for example using regularizationtechniques. The problem is related to that encountered in electricalimpedance tomography, which measures the impedance of arrays ofelectrodes that are placed on the surface of the skin [David HOLDER.Brief introduction to bioimpedance and Introduction to biomedicalelectrical impedance tomography, in David S. Holder, ed. Electricalimpedance tomography: methods, history, and applications. Bristol UK:Institute of Physics Publishing (2005), pp. 411-449]. However, thepresent disclosure differs from such previous tomographic methods inthat the present invention measures the impedance of a toroidal magneticstimulator coil that is electrically connected to the patient via aconducting gel or other conducting material, as shown for example inFIGS. 7 and 10.

However, even if it is not possible to discern a well-defined structurein the image, the image may nevertheless be useful because it may beused to subsequently re-position the stimulator to the same locationthat had been used previously for stimulation. Thus, an image may begenerated on one day, followed by therapeutic stimulation performed withthe stimulator positioned at the center of the image. If an image in thesame general location of the scalp is acquired on another day, thatimage may not coincide spatially with the earlier image. However, byshifting and possibly rotating the earlier image relative to the laterimage, a best registration match between the images may be determined,for example, by least-squares or maximum likelihood criteria. Havingdetermined the position in the second image that best corresponds to thecenter of the first image, the scanning stage may be used to move thescanning coil to that position, in order to re-stimulate at thatparticular position.

Use of this method to reposition the stimulator presupposes that theimages will similar on different days, except for offsetting distancesand angles, noise, and possibly average intensity that can be addressedby normalizing the images. However, if the underlying conductingbiological structure has changed between images, that fact can bequantified by using the least-squares or maximum likelihood parametersthat characterize the overall comparison between overlapping portions ofthe images produced on different days. Thus, if natural changes orchanges that are due to an experimental intervention are occurring(e.g., due to drug treatment, or to stimulation using the disclosedstimulator), a comparison of the least-squares or maximum likelihoodparameters that characterize differences between pairs of images candemonstrate the existence of conductance change in the underlyingbiological structures. Thus, measurement of bodily impedance changeswith coils of the toroidal magnetic stimulation device may be used tomonitor and quantify changes in the electrical conductance of targettissue.

Measurement of the coil's electrical impedance may be useful even when ascanned image is not being acquired, particularly in connection with thedetection of motion and signal drift. Because of patient motion, e.g.,due to the patient's fidgeting restlessness, muscular contractions andmovement of the gel or other conducting material that is being used,there will inevitably be some motion of the magnetic stimulator coilrelative to the location of the nerves or tissues that are the target ofstimulation, no matter how rigidly the coil and conducting gel arecomfortably held against the patient, using a strap or frame similar tothose used for transcranial magnetic stimulation. Movement artifacts arenot expected to be significant for the transcranial stimulation exampleshown in FIG. 10, but they might be a consideration for stimulation thatis performed at other locations of the body.

For example, when stimulating the vagus nerve in the neck, motion mayaccompany the patient's breathing, involving contraction and anassociated change in geometry of the sternocleidomastoid muscle that issituated close to the vagus nerve (identified as 65 in FIG. 7). In thatcase, by measuring the impedance of the stimulating coil (along with allthe electrically conducting material with which the coil is in contact,including the patient), one may determine whether the impedance ischanging as a function of the phase of the patient's respiration. If itis changing, the power of the stimulating coil may be modulated in sucha way as to maintain the induced electrical field in the vicinity of thevagus nerve nearly constant, as evidenced, for example, by arespiration-independent physiological response on the part of thepatient. It may also be therapeutically advantageous to program thecontrol unit 330 of FIG. 1 to control the impulse generator 310 of FIG.1 in such a way as to temporally modulate stimulation by the magneticstimulator coil 340 in FIG. 1, in order to enhance a physiologicalresponse that occurs preferentially during a particular phase ofrespiration. To do so, the control unit estimates the phase of thepatient's respiration from the changing measured impedance, thenpreferentially stimulates during particular respiratory phases.

Although the invention herein has been described with reference toparticular embodiments, it is to be understood that these embodimentsare merely illustrative of the principles and applications of thepresent invention. It is therefore to be understood that numerousmodifications may be made to the illustrative embodiments and that otherarrangements may be devised without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

Furthermore, it is understood that the low-current toroidal magneticstimulation device that is disclosed herein may also be used for allother applications in which a higher-current magnetic stimulator isused, including (but not limited to) those described in the publication:Chris HOVEY and Reza Jalinous. The Guide to Magnetic Stimulation. TheMagstim Company Ltd, Spring Gardens, Whitland, Carmarthenshire, SA340HR, United Kingdom. Those applications pertain to Motor EvokedPotentials (MEPs), Facilitation, MEP Variability, Central MotorConduction Time (CMCT), Corticomotor Threshold, Response amplitude,Demyelinating Neuropathies, Magnetic Pulse Pairs, Brain Mapping, SensoryEvoked Potentials (SEPs), Motor Evoked Potentials (MEPs), Facilitation,MEP Variability, Central Motor Conduction Time (CMCT), CorticomotorThreshold, Response amplitude, Demyelinating Neuropathies, MagneticPulse Pairs, Brain Mapping, Sensory Evoked Potentials, Coma, DrugMonitoring, Epilepsy, Facial Nerve, Spinal nerve roots, Motor NeuroneDisease, Movement Disorders, Dystonia, Huntington's Disease, Myoclonus,Parkinson's Disease, Tremor, Tourette Syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis,Neuroscience, Operating Room Monitoring, Pain, Peripheral Nerves,Plasticity, Psychiatry, Depression, Mania, Schizophrenia, Psychology,Rehabilitation, Muscle injury, Relief of Spasticity, Simulation of aCough, Urology, Spinal Injuries, Cervical Spondylosis, Sports Medicine,Stroke, Thoracic Medicine, Phrenic Nerve Stimulation, and Urology.

1. A device for selectively applying energy to a target region in apatient, the device comprising: a power source configured to generate amagnetic field outside of the patient; a housing containing an enclosedcoil and an electrically conductive fluid surrounding at least a portionof the enclosed coil; and wherein the enclosed coil is configured totransmit the magnetic field through an outer skin surface of the patientsuch that the magnetic field induces an electric current at a nerve atthe target region within the patient, the electric current beingsufficient to modulate the nerve.
 2. The device of claim 1, wherein thetarget region is a nerve at least 1 cm below the outer skin surface. 3.The device of claim 1, wherein the target region is a nerve at least 2cm below the outer skin surface.
 4. The device of claim 1, furthercomprising: a second enclosed coil positioned adjacent to or near theenclosed coil, and wherein the power source is configured to generate asecond magnetic field within the second enclosed coil.
 5. The device ofclaim 1, further comprising: an electrical insulator positioned around aportion of the enclosed coil such that a component of the electriccurrent normal to a surface of the insulator is zero.
 6. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the enclosed coil is configured to induce an electricfield at the target region, wherein the electric field allows theelectric current to flow through the outer skin surface of the patient.7. The device of claim 1, wherein the electric current comprises burstsof electrical impulses sufficient to modulate the nerve at the targetregion.
 8. The device of claim 7, wherein the bursts the electricalimpulses repeat at a frequency from about 15 Hz to about 50 Hz.
 9. Thedevice of claim 7, wherein each of the electrical impulses has aduration from about 50 microseconds to about 1000 microseconds.
 10. Thedevice of claim 7, wherein each of the electrical impulses has aduration of about 50 microseconds to about 400 microseconds.
 11. Thedevice of claim 1, wherein the nerve is a vagus nerve.
 12. The device ofclaim 1, further comprising: an electrically conductive contact surfacecoupled to the enclosed coil, wherein the electrically conductivecontact surface is configured to transmit the magnetic field through askin surface of a neck of the patient to a vagus nerve of the patient.13. The device of claim 1, wherein the housing comprises a handhelddevice with an interior, and wherein the enclosed coil is substantiallysurrounded by the electrically conductive fluid within the interior. 14.The device of claim 1, wherein the electrically conductive fluidcomprises an electrically conductive gel.
 15. The device of claim 1,wherein the electrically conductive fluid comprises an electricallyconductive liquid.